They Live!
by GeneralQuistis-Zhakeena
Summary: After a Wutaian Full Moon Ritual had gone horribly wrong, Lord Godo finds a naked man walking by... and hires him to become Yuffie's bodyguard. Meantime, Midgar rejoices as certain people left for dead are found alive again. Read please!
1. Homecoming

They Live!

By: GQ & Zhak

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One: Homecoming

Much to Yuffie's frustration, she's back in her hometown, Wutai. As much as she wanted to hang out with her new-found friends, she could not. Unfortunately, when she was about to think of staying with Tifa Lockheart, Barret and Marlene in Seventh Heaven, her father had sent some men to pick her up. Obviously he had heard and eventually found out about what happened to her and the rest of the gang. Now he wanted to find Cloud Strife for putting his only daughter's life in danger. Even if Yuffie had already reasoned through a letter (which she tied to a dove and ordered for it to fly to her father) that she was fine and she was alright, he was still insistent. Meanwhile, the men who were sent to fetch her had to be on their knees to convince her to come home because her father said so.

With enough persuasion even from Tifa herself, Yuffie finally agreed to go home, but with a promise to come back to Midgar. Although she was thinking to herself that her friends probably do not want her living with them, she still said that she would return… but she began to have second thoughts when Barret told her jokingly, "Have a safe trip and I hope you get lost on your way back here, just in case! Bwahahahaha!"

With a forced cheerful smile on her face, she pushed open the front door of the big Kisaragi household and entered as if she was the most important person in the house. "I'm home!" she yelled out, surprising every single servant cleaning the place.

The Kisaragi Family had always been one of the most influential ones in Wutai. Lord Godo (Yuffie's dad) had always been of good service to Wutai's rulers… but since poverty struck the land (thanks to ShinRa), even the richest of the richest citizens of Wutai had to suffer… even the Kisaragis.

Stunned but not wanting to bother her, all the servants went back to work. She clenched her teeth. "Heeheeheehee!" she giggled stiffly, feeling a little annoyed upon being ignored.

"Lady Yuffie, welcome home!" the majordomo greeted, emerging from one of the many doors.

"Oh it's you. Where's father?" she asked rather miserably before putting down a sack on the floor. The Majordomo stared at the sack. "What's in there? You gathered a lot of Materia?" he asked excitedly.

"Not exactly. It's Meteor Dust! You can sell it for 10 Gil per 1 kilo at the tourist attraction store." She said with a sarcastic smile before proceeding to look for her own father instead of just asking the people around her.

She headed straight to her father's quarters where she instantly found him seated on his bed and sprinkling foot powder on his left foot while singing a song in Wutaian language (which probably sounds like Japanese or Chinese in our world). She cringed at the "horrible" sight. "Ugh…" was her initial reaction.

Lord Godo instantly stopped and hid the foot powder under his mattress. "Oh, daughter. You're home!" he said casually before he slowly got up.

"Still got foot fungus, huh, pop?" she asked with a teasing smile on her face.

He frowned upon hearing that, "Speak ill of my foot and the same harm might befall you, dear!" he warned while waving a fist at her. She just giggled before putting her hands on her hips. "Okay, what's the big deal and you wanted me to come home here?" she demanded.

"Well I— ."

She cut him off by raising her hand to his face, "Or maybe you're already dying and since I'm your only heiress, I'm going to inherit already all of your treasures?" she asked eagerly.

He frowned at his daughter, "I'm not dying, you ingrate! And how dare you speak to me like I am not your father!" he scolded. She just shrugged it off, "Yeah, yeah. Now what's up and you're so cranky like you're about to boil your own head in your hot blood?" she asked casually. Clearing his throat, he pushed her slightly aside and walked out of the door, but motioned for her to follow him. "Our elders and our local priestesses have cast some spells during the last full moon… which I think resulted in such trouble…" he began.

Her eyes widened. "Trouble?" she asked as she caught up with him. "What are you saying? Is Wutai really falling apart? But ShinRa is gone!" she told him.

"No, this is not about Wutai's downfall." He told her before his face suddenly lit up in curiosity, "By the way, were you able to steal some Materia for us?" he asked.

She just stared glumly at him. "No."

With that, he proceeded, but with a much faster pace. Yuffie could tell that he was disappointed about her not being able to bring home any Materia. "Oh come on! They'll kill me if I did that!" she whined.

"But you're agile! You can easily run away from them!" he told her.

"And when they catch me, you'll never see your daughter again." she said airily.

"Oh don't say that!" he told her before going back to her, taking her in a warm and loving embrace. She could not tell if he was really crying or just mock-crying as he said, "You're my only beloved daughter and if I lose you, your mother's soul is going to haunt me forever!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Ew! Get away, old man! I'm a big girl already and you must not hold me that way! GROSSNESS!" she shrieked as she pushed him away from herself.

Regaining composure and wiping away his own tears, Lord Godo just nodded while sniffing. "Alright, alright. Forgive me. It's just that you are my one and only baby girl and… and now you're all grown up!" he turned away from her, "Sooner or later you'll leave home, start your own family, have kids…" he cited dreamily.

"Grossness…" she said disgustingly while cringing and making faces as she continued to follow him to one of the rooms. "Anyway, I don't think I'll be marrying soon. I don't even have a boyfriend yet. Unless you have betrothed me to some Wutaian dork just like what tradition did to you and mom!" she told him.

He just ignored her statement and remained silent.

Snorting, she said, "What was that trouble again?" she asked.

"As I was saying, priestesses and elders cast a spell on a last full moon. There was a ceremony and it was the first time they did that in 1,000 years. It was a spell of bringing back the dead to life." He explained.

"GAWDS! So you're saying there are zombies lurking around Wutai?! But I haven't seen any… OH MY GAWD!!! Don't tell me they all come out at night and eat people?!" she freaked out.

"No! There are no zombies! But they knew that it's against the natural laws of our beliefs on death to raise things back to life once they have met their creator already… but the evening they cast that spell, our hunters found a man in the forest near Gongaga and he looked like… a zombie…" he began.

"YOU SAID THERE ARE NO ZOMBIES!!!??? But what do you call…"

"I am not yet finished!" Lord Godo yelled.

Silence.

He cleared his throat, "He is not really a zombie… we just thought he was one because of how he looked. He looked so dirty and messy… and mind me, he wasn't even wearing anything!" he pointed out.

She raised an eyebrow as she felt her ears turn red. "GROSSNESS! He was naked?!" she exclaimed.

"We asked where he came from. He seemed shaken and out of his mind for a while. But he answered that he doesn't know where he had been, but it was like a hospital." He explained.

"Hmf. If that was a hospital, how come he's naked?" she asked rather embarrassingly. The thought of naked men are giving her the shivers. "We don't know. But he said he just escaped. When our hunters returned here, nobody would like to take him in, so I offered to help him in exchange for him working for our family!" he told her.

Yuffie was quiet for a while, staring unbelievably at her father. Lord Godo had a pleasant smile on his face, "Isn't that wonderful, daughter? We have a new slave!" he cheered.

She smacked his arm, "GAWDS!!! Didn't you even care to think that he could have come from a mental hospital and he's a psychotic killer who kills old men like you and sadistically rapes young women like me?! GAWDS!!!!! Daddy! How stupid and insensitive could you get! You're putting your only daughter's life in danger here, y'know?!" she shrieked angrily in panic.

Lord Godo was stunned. "I… I haven't even thought of that… well he looked and sounds… nice…" he stammered.

"Of course he'll look and sound nice! All psychos are like that at the start, but their minds aren't nice, mind you! Take that Sephiroth guy we just got rid of, for example. Outside is the macho appearance and the handsome face, but his mind? GAWDS!!! You should've been there! I almost died!" she snapped impatiently.

"What? You almost died?" he demanded.

"Hell yeah! He was too strong ya know?!" she argued.

He embraced her again rather tightly. "Oh daughter! You almost died! And daddy never told you how much he loves you!!! So I'll tell you now before it gets too late again! I love you, daughter! And I'll make sure you know that each and every single day from this day forward because death comes unexpectedly and…"

"Dad, dad, dad! Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she squirmed away from him. He let go of her. "I'm sorry… I'm just over-flowing with emotions right now… sniff" he told her.

She dusted herself. "Grossness…" she muttered miserably before proceeding, "So, where's that new _slave_ you're talking about?" she asked.

"That's where I'm taking you right now. In his room. But I'm reminding you, Yuffie, he's just working for us as payment for our kindness in taking him in here to help him get well." He told her before he walked ahead of her and then stopped before a door.

"Well he's not working right now?" she asked stubbornly, crossing her arms. She was not really interested in looking at slaves or anything like that.

"It's his break time." He told her.

"What kinds of work are you making him delve into anyway?" she asked.

"Usually he escorts me around town… and acts like a bodyguard. Now, I want you to help me, Yuffie." He told her.

"Like how?" she asked glumly. "You are my only heiress and you must know how to fend for yourself." He told her.

"I know how to fend for myself." She muttered miserably.

"Really now? And what was the thing I found out about you getting kidnapped by that Corneo guy and you almost lost your virginity to that evil ugly corrupt man!?" he asked threateningly which made her eyes widen and she shuddered as she took a few steps backward. "I… I…" she stammered rather shakily.

He turned to face her and walked over to her, his facial expression scaring her out of her wits. "And you were not able to escape faster than expected!" he told her.

"AAARGH!!! I was gonna do that and help Elena out too… but… but…" she felt her tears welling up in her blue-violet eyes. She sniffed. "I DIDN'T TAKE MY ROPE LESSONS SERIOUSLY!!!" and she started to cry.

Lord Godo was stunned. "Oh dear, dear…" he took his crying daughter in his arms and patted her back gently. "There, there, my little Yuffie. Don't cry. Daddy is going to help you." He said.

She let go of him, wiping her tears away. "Really? How?" she asked.

"You're going to undergo training once more!" he said cheerfully.

She froze. "Wh…what?" she asked.

"Like I said, you are my heiress. You must know how to defend yourself properly… every Kisaragi is a great warrior, and you must become one too. Unfortunately, only great men in our family became great warriors…" he began.

She rolled her eyes. "Aw man! Are we gonna go through that again?" she whined.

"Go through what?" he asked mindlessly.

"Your sermon on your disappointment that you have a daughter instead of a son?" she replied with a sneer as she clenched her fists and crossed her arms.

He shook her head in disbelief as he scratched his head. "You don't get it do you?" he asked.

"Yes, I do, _daddy_." She replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, "You are disappointed that I am a girl and not a boy." She pointed out.

"You're missing out the point." He told her.

"No, you're the one who's missing out the point." She argued.

"Even your mother underwent intensive training in her youth! Men and women are equal here in Wutai!" he told her.

"Right… so that's why when we're walking together in the street when I was younger, you were walking ahead with your male bodyguards while me and the rest of the female bodyguards trailed behind you… and I was never really introduced formally to society." She said.

"Your introduction to society will take place when you turn 18." He told her. "Anyway, since our new _slave_ is an ex-Soldier. I'd figure we could make use of him in training you." He told her.

She was stunned. "Wh…what?" she asked in awe. "Ex-Soldier?" she thought silently in complete wonder.

Lord Godo proceeded to open the door, revealing a small guest room. "You there, boy?" he called out.

"Yes, sir." A very masculine voice replied. The accent sounded somewhat Midgarian, but she could not really make it out well. Lord Godo stepped inside the room. "My daughter is here. She's the one you'll be training starting tomorrow morning." He told him.

Yuffie stepped forward, but not wanting to go further inside. She just stood behind her father as she gazed around the room. She peeked from behind him, revealing to herself a tall muscular man standing by a small closet where he was carefully polishing a sword which resembled so much of Cloud Strife's Buster Sword. He had long black hair… and spiky at the topmost part. She raised an eyebrow because he reminded her so much of a hedgehog.

Lord Godo noticed that she was hiding behind him, so he got her and dragged her so that she could face him.

The man stared strangely at the young woman being presented to him by Lord Godo. She flashed a weak smile at him. He just stared at her with his wide blue eyes before turning back to Lord Godo.

"Zack, I'd like you to meet my one and only daughter, Yuffie. Yuffie, this is Zack." Lord Godo introduced.

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	2. Zack and the Rest are Back!

Two: Zack and the Rest are Back!

            Zack eyed her from head to toe before smiling kindly at her. He let go of the cloth that he was using for polishing his Buster Sword and wiped his hand onto his pants before approaching her and offered a handshake. "Hi. Nice to meet you, Miss Kisaragi, ma'am. Your father has told me lots of cool stories about you." He said.

She stared at his hand for a few seconds while thinking, "Grossness!" before she hesitantly took it and shook hands with him. "R…really now? Like what?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

Before Zack could answer, Lord Godo interrupted him by clearing his throat, "Ahem… Lots of things, Yuffie, lots of things."  He told his daughter. Yuffie instantly let go of Zack and went back into hiding behind her father. "Can I go now? I want to wash my hands…" she whispered to him with a disgusted look on her face.

"Not yet, Yuffie. You talk to him first. I'll be in my room." He told her.

"Like, what will I say?" she whispered in panic.

"Ask him where he came from… interrogate him! After all, he's your new instructor… and your new guardian." He replied.

"WHAT?!" Yuffie screeched, surprising both Zack and her father.

Yuffie made him face her and collared him, surprising Zack because of her display of such strength… and disrespect. "Look, Old Man, you didn't say anything about this Hedgehog-guy being my bodyguard in the first place, and now you're telling me that… that… he will be my bodyguard? What the hell do I need a bodyguard for?!" she demanded frantically in annoyance.

Zack cringed a little, "Hedgehog?" he repeated.

"Yuffie, you are such a disrespectful daughter! The more you'll have him as your bodyguard if you don't let go of me at once!" Lord Godo said sternly.

But Yuffie just shook him violently, "AAAARGH!!! Are you up to ruining my social life?! I don't need an effing bodyguard!!!" she screamed hysterically at his face.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Zack got her instantly when Lord Godo signaled for him to help him. He drew her away from her father. She was panting heavily and her face was red in rage. "Dad, you can't do this to me… I can take care of myself!" she told him.

"Oh yeah? And how would you explain being kidnapped by Don Corneo and almost getting raped by that dirty old man, huh? I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. Even if you are very disrespectful, loud and spoiled, you are still my daughter, do you understand?" he snapped back at her rather impatiently before marching out of the room, leaving her there with Zack.

She let out an exasperated cry, "GAWDS!!!" she moved away from him and stomped her foot, going to one corner of the room and plopped down angrily on the floor in a sitting position. "Now I'm never going to be able to see my friends again…" she muttered miserably.

"Well… you can still go out of the house. But I think I'll be staying with you if you do so." He told her.

"Never mind. They live too far from here anyway… in the another continent." She explained, sitting in fetal position and hugging her knees closer to herself.

Zack could easily interpret the sad and miserable look on her face. "Hmm… I see… well, maybe one time we could still… pass by there or something. If it makes you happy…" he began.

"Never mind. It won't please my Old Man anyway." She told him miserably. "So, he mentioned you're from SOLDIER, huh? Which class?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

He smiled at her, finally relieved that she has calmed down even for a bit. He walked over to the closet once more and picked up the cloth and started polishing his Buster Sword. "Well… yeah. But I'm an ex-SOLDIER now." He told her.

"Oh, how come?" she asked, and then remembered something. "Oh well, since ShinRa's gone you could be considered as an ex-SOLDIER, huh?" she asked.

"Well… not exactly…" he told her.

She blinked. "Why?" she asked.

"I… something bad happened to me so I guess all of them assumed that I'm dead. But now I'm back… well," he stammered.

"Anyway, how old are you?" she asked, giving him the hint that she is not in the mood for long life and personal stories. He was quite surprised at her sudden shift of mood and subject. "I'm 23 now." He told her. "And you?" he asked before inspecting the blade of his sword.

"16." She muttered miserably.

"You don't look 16." He told her.

She just stared glumly at him.

"You look like you're 14." He added.

She frowned at what he said and she instantly got up and rushed to him, "Look, big guy, I didn't ask for your opinion about how I look like! And since you're just my bodyguard, it means that I am your master; meaning, you should not speak unless you're asked to, understand?" she asked.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. But it was meant to be a compliment. Usually girls would like to look older than their age because they want to be more mature… and hook up with more boys. I'm sure you're not like that, are you?" he asked with a playful smile on his face.

She just raised an eyebrow at him. "Definitely not. And mind me, I don't hang out with that kind of crowd. Now if you'll excuse me…" she turned away from him and went over to the door to leave, but he stopped her by speaking up again, "Uhm… Miss Kisaragi," he began.

"What?" she asked through clenched teeth as she opened the door.

Zack thought for a while before asking, "Uhm… don't mind me asking but… where have you been? Your father mentioned that you've been gone for so long…"

The question made her think of her friends again. It took her around three days before she was able to reach Wutai again from Midgar because she just rode a boat with her father's other guards. And in those three long days, she somewhat felt so lonely because she realized how much she missed Tifa, Barret, Cid, Vincent and Cloud… She smiled bitterly, bowing down her head, "Even that big red dog and Marlene… and Aerith…" she thought sadly. She sighed heavily before she stepped out of the room but turned to face him again from outside in the hallway. "Saving the world from Sephiroth with the best buddies any Ninja like me could ever have." She replied sadly before shutting the door… but she wondered why Zack suddenly looked surprised at the mention of the name _Sephiroth_… like he knew the guy. She shrugged it off and proceeded down the hallway going to her own room. "Oh well, he's from SOLDIER, after all…" she muttered to herself. When she stepped inside her supposedly room, she gasped. "OH MY GAWD!!!!!"

            Lord Godo just sat still on the floor, drinking his tea, while listening to Yuffie blab, "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY OLD ROOM?! WHERE ARE MY STUFF?!"

He took a small sip before taking a deep breath and answered, "I transferred them to your new room."

She felt so stunned. "New room? But where?" she asked.

"Just beside Zack's. I figured you need to be protected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… so there. No questions asked." He said sternly before taking another sip.

She just clenched her fists. "OH MY GAWD!!!!! You can't do this to me!!! That's a connecting room!!! What if that big hunk of a guy just barges in and… and… and…" she stammered.

"And what?" he asked seriously.

"…and _violates_ me?!" she continued, finally saying the "right" word.

Lord Godo just stared blankly at her. "The man is seven years older than you. And did you even care to think that he would not even be attracted to a girl who looks like you? Har har har har har har!!!" he just began to laugh hysterically.

Yuffie clenched her fists. "GAWDS!!!" she screeched before walking out of the room.

            Tifa jumped up in surprise when she heard the sound of roaring thunder in sync with the flash of bright lightning from the skies. Marlene screeched in surprise and hid behind her.

Tifa's heart was still racing and her maroon-brown eyes were wide were still wide. She wiped her flour-covered hands on a kitchen towel hanging by the refrigerator. "Marlene, calm down! It's just thunder and lightning." She said reassuringly, although her voice was shaky.

Marlene still clung to her waist. "But… but… it was too loud!" she said shakily.

Tifa shook her head in dismay. "Be brave, Marlene." She said sternly as she patted the child's head with a soft smile on her face.

Vincent continued to read the newspaper while he was seated on one of the chairs in the dining room area just beside the kitchen while listening to Marlene say to Tifa, "But I read in a book in Miss Elmyra's house that when lightning and thunder go together in one stormy afternoon, it means that bad things are going to happen!"

"Bad things like what?" Tifa asked curiously.

"Bad things like the dead people coming back to life!" Marlene explained.

Vincent slowly put down the newspaper away from his face and stared inquiringly at the little girl who was still clinging onto Tifa's waist. Tifa was trying to walk across the kitchen with the little girl still attached to her. She was carrying a mixing bowl and a cookie cutter and placed it on the kitchen counter, then walked across the kitchen again to go to the cupboard to get a spatula. "Marlene, dead people can't go back to life." Tifa choked out.

Vincent just looked down to the floor upon hearing that.

"Yes they can! If magic people will magic them, they will come back to life! It's in the book!" Marlene defended.

"You shouldn't believe everything you read, Marlene. Now please, let go of me? I have to finish baking these cookies so that you can bring them to school tomorrow and eat them for recess." Tifa said with a stern tone.

"But I'm still scared!" the little girl reasoned.

Tifa sighed heavily. "Where's Barret anyway…" she turned to Vincent. "Oh there's Uncle Vincent? Why don't you go to him so that you won't be scared anymore?" she asked sweetly.

Vincent just stared unbelievably at her. He was not even sure if he's good with kids… and then there was Marlene running up to him. "Uncle Vinny! Uncle Vinny!!!" she chanted before hugging him.

Vincent was surprised upon being hugged by a child. "Yes, Marlene?" he asked.

Then it happened again: thunder roared and lightning flashed… The little girl screamed. Vincent brought the child closer to himself, as if to protect her from something unseen that he could already feel lurking around the area.

"It's been so gloomy ever since the full moon before Yuffie left us and went back to Wutai… I hope she had a safe journey." Tifa said with a worried look on her face.

Vincent turned back to the newspaper that was lying on the table. He could see the weather news and he frowned. "But there's no storm… and it's not even raining." He said.

"Oh well, the weather's really unpredictable these days…" Tifa began, but she stopped when she heard loud blaring parade music from outside… "What the…" she had managed to say.

"A parade in the late afternoon?" Vincent thought in curiosity.

Barret came rushing down the stairs with a frantic look on his face, "Foo's! Take a look at what's on TV!!!" he was yelling.

Tifa was not able to move. "Wh…what's going on?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

Barret rushed to the television set and switched it on. He grabbed the remote and switched to the news channel and turned up the volume. Vincent, Tifa and Marlene listened to the voice of the newscaster, "_ShinRa__ is back in business! And to lead its new empire is the supposedly-late President ShinRa! Much to our big surprise… but right now there's a welcoming parade in this city. At this moment, the ShinRa building is being restored to its old place. What kind of phenomenon is this?! And then…_"

"Wh…what?! I thought… I thought they're dead?" Tifa had managed to ask as she rushed to the window and took a good look outside. For her, it seemed like doomsday… something worse than Meteor… She could see the ShinRa Tower starting reconstruction and restoration with never before seen machinery for construction. "Oh dear…" she said softly with a worried look on her face.

Marlene rushed over to her father and clung to his leg. "Papa, I'm scared!" she began to cry.

Vincent got up and went to the door, taking a peek outside. A lot of people were on the streets, crowding and cheering and throwing confetti all over the place. He saw ShinRa Soldiers marching and a big float approaching… and on top of the float was the old man ShinRa… the one that Sephiroth had supposedly killed. Vincent's mouth dropped open upon seeing the old man. "What the…" he had managed to say before he shut the door.

"What's the matter, Vincent?" Barret asked while trying to calm the little girl down.

"It's… President ShinRa… the media are not lying." Vincent replied, feeling that his mouth is getting dry.

"What?!" Barret demanded impatiently before he placed Marlene on the sofa and rushed to the door, opening it wide enough for all of them from inside to see.

On the float with President ShinRa were his five complete executives… and four Turks…

"What… what are they doing… here? I thought they're supposed to be dead?" Tifa asked with a fearful look on her face as she stood behind Vincent.

Much to Vincent's anger, he saw Hojo.

"How come they're here?" Tifa whispered, clenching her fists.

"Oh damn… tell me I think we ain't dreamin'…" Barret muttered while pinching himself.

Vincent clenched his right fist and slammed the door shut. "I don't want to believe this!" he said angrily.

It seemed to all of them that the dead had risen from their graves… and they're all back to cause havoc; but why the bad guys?

Tifa went over to the window to watch the people passing by. She suddenly had a sad and worried look on her face. "But… where's Aerith?" she said softly.

"What?" Barret asked her.

She swallowed hard, "It… it seems that all the dead people are back… and they're complete! So… I'd assume that Aerith would be back, right?" she asked with a hopeful tone.

Vincent's eyes widened before turning to her, "And…" he stopped himself from saying the name.

"And what?" Barret asked.

"Lucrecia…" he just thought silently before shaking his head in dismay. "N…nothing…" he told them before he sat down on the couch, clutching his head in confusion. "What is going on?! Are we in one nightmare?" he asked out loud… and he remembered what Marlene had mentioned moments ago about the "magic men that will magic the dead so that they would come back to life". He raked his right hand through his hair before he looked up at Tifa and Barret who were staring strangely at him. "Maybe… maybe what Marlene had mentioned is right…" he said softly.

Lightning flashed in sync with loud and roaring thunder which made all of them, but Vincent, jerk up in surprise.

            "Looks like rain again…" Lucrecia said out loud when she heard the thunder and saw the lightning outside in the gloomy skies.

Rufus just rolled his eyes but he remained seated on the small couch. "I hope they used metal rods for Old Man's canopy in his float…" he muttered with a mean look in eyes. Sephiroth laughed at what he said, "I get what you mean." He pointed out.

"Oh, that's so violent, Rufus." Aerith remarked with a disturbed look on her face.

"I know. And I love it." Rufus replied airily before flipping his hair.

Lucrecia frowned. "I'm worried for us here… sooner or later, they might find out where we are and… and take us to ShinRa." She told them.

"Don't worry, mom. I'll make sure they don't find us." Sephiroth assured her with a wink before he unsheathed his Masamune and started polishing it again.

"That's the nth time you've polished it for today," Rufus pointed out.

"Hey, mind your own beeswax, ShinRa boy." Sephiroth replied nastily while eyeing him warningly. He turned back to his Masamune. "Besides, I missed this baby of mine. Mwahahahahaha." He said before hugging it close to himself.

Aerith just raised an eyebrow and exchanged weird looks with Rufus. Lucrecia saw how he was hugging his weapon so she shook her head in disbelief, "Careful not to cut yourself, Sephy." She warned.

Aerith giggled while Rufus snickered. "Heh heh heh… _Sephy_. Heh, heh, heh." He mocked.

"What?" Sephiroth snapped impatiently at them with a slight blush on his cheeks.

 Lucrecia giggled and went over to her son. "C'mere, dear. Don't let those horrible people get the best of you and bully you. You're definitely better than them!" she said while hugging him. Sephiroth could feel his face getting red. "Mom… please, not in front of other people!" he muttered in mortification.

Aerith laughed out loud, "It's alright, Sephiroth. You don't have to be embarrassed. It's only me and Rufus." She said.

Rufus just smiled wickedly at him. Sephiroth sneered at him.

It had been days since they had been brought back. They also could not understand why they were brought back in the first place… but they were wondering why there had been a limited number of people who could come back. Professor Gast, Ifalna, Cloud's mother and Rufus's mother could not even come with them.

When they all woke up, they realized that they were all in a hospital. Lucrecia was the first one who regained consciousness among all of them, and when she realized what had happened, she instantly woke up her son. When Sephiroth had awoken, he rushed to find Rufus and also woke him up, and in the process, had awoken Aerith who was in the same ward with Rufus. The four of them had managed to escape, in fear and worry that President ShinRa might find out that they are also alive and then make use of them again for his personal plans. As for Rufus, he simply hated his father, so he went with them, even if he had to go through poverty first. He could not get his own money from the bank, otherwise, his father will find out where he is hiding and that he is also alive.

The four of them just decided to settle in a small rented room in Sector 7, Midgar. Aerith and Lucrecia shared space on a bed with an old squeaky mattress, while the boys would just settle on the floor. There were times when they would have nothing to eat, and Sephiroth would joke about staying in outside the Church of Sector 6 and he would play the guitar while Aerith and Rufus performed something for the crowd, and maybe the people would find it amusing and give them alms. Obviously they could not do that because they are in hiding.

Rufus shivered slightly and rubbed his palms together. "Bloody hell… this room's heater is not working well." He muttered miserably.

"Actually, it's not working anymore." Lucrecia said.

"But we'll freeze to death without that! And it's near winter already!" Rufus pointed out.

"It's alright, Rufus, it's alright. We won't freeze to death, I can assure you that. We're going to get out of this place as soon as we could find Aerith's old friends." Lucrecia assured him.

Aerith bowed down her head. "I'm… not sure if we could even find them easily. Sector 7 is such a big place… and dangerous too. I tried going around early this morning, asking for people if they know any Cloud Strife, but they said they don't." she said softly.

"You want to try again?" Rufus asked with a desperate look in his eyes, although his face looked so expressionless. Aerith could tell that he is not really used to living in such poor conditions. She sighed heavily. "Alright," she said before she got up.

Sephiroth sheathed back his sword. "No, you just stay here. I'll go with Rufus." He told her before he got up. Rufus got up and dusted himself while straightening his white pants. They were already dirty and he really wanted to change into something cleaner and warmer, but he chose to live a life away from his rich but corrupt father, so he was not really complaining too much about it.

"Wouldn't it be obvious if the two of you got together and started roaming around the streets of Sector 7?" Lucrecia asked.

"What's the matter with the two of us?" Sephiroth asked.

"Especially you, Sephiroth. You cannot be seen publicly, otherwise, the people might throw rocks at you. Remember what you did to them before," she pointed out. He frowned slightly. "They won't recognize me." He assured her.

Lucrecia thought for a while before sighing heavily, "You just stay here with Aerith. I'll go with Rufus instead." She said.

"But mom, they might—." Sephiroth began, but she stopped him, "I've been away too long from this place. They won't be able to know that it's Lucrecia." She said with a wink before turning to Rufus. "As for you, try to mess up your hair a bit." She told him.

Rufus just stared stiffly at her before raking his fingers through his hair. "It's not even brushed back just like before. Besides, this is how my hair looked like when I was 15." He pointed out before heading for the door.

Aerith followed them with her gaze. She wanted to come with them too. "Let me go with you, please!" she said as she got to her feet and sprinted to them.

"Just let her go with you. I'll guard the place." Sephiroth told them as he plopped down on the bed.

Aerith exchanged looks with Lucrecia and Rufus before proceeding to open the door for her two companions. "Let's go." She said as she went ahead.

            President ShinRa gazed around his surroundings and down at the audience from where he stood before the podium. "How do you like it, President ShinRa?" Heidegger whispered proudly.

"Very good. Very, very good. But I'm wondering where my son is… I thought he was revived with us." President ShinRa said to him.

"Gyah. I've already sent some of the SOLDIER and the Turks to make rounds… and if they see anybody suspicious, I already told them to arrest those people." Heidegger replied proudly.

"Very good, Heidegger." President ShinRa said before turning back to the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began for his speech.

            The cold early winter breeze began to blow softly, sending shivers down their spines. Aerith hugged herself as she rubbed her own arms with her cold palms. "Brr…" she shuddered.

Rufus just continued to walk with his usual poker-faced expression.

Lucrecia shoved her hands inside the pockets of her white laboratory coat in an effort to keep them warm. "I'd expect snow to start falling two weeks from now." She told them.

But Rufus did not care.

Aerith looked up at the skies and then at her whole surroundings. "This part of Midgar still looks the same…" she said out loud.

Rufus just kept quiet as they proceeded to walk.

Lucrecia forced a smile, "Aerith, you mentioned that one of your friends have a bar here in this area?" she asked.

"Oh yes! Tifa's Seventh Heaven? But I'm not sure where it is in this area." Aerith replied. Rufus turned to her, "You think we could ask for directions?" he asked.

"I think… wait a moment," Aerith said before approaching a group of people in suits who were standing by a tall electrical post and also shivering in the cold. She could hear them complaining loudly of the cold weather, but she still proceeded, "Excuse me," she began.

Rufus had been following her with his gaze, and he easily recognized the people that Aerith had approached. "Bloody hell!" he ran for Aerith, wanting to grab her and drag her away from those people before they could turn around to face her. Lucrecia gasped and took a few steps backward in fear.

Aerith's eyes widened when the people in suits turned to face her. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as she took a few steps backward bumping against Rufus. Rufus forced her to his back, like protecting her, but he was still moving backward with her. His gaze remained on the Turks.

"Sir Rufus!" Tseng exclaimed.

Rufus just frowned at them. "Just pretend that you haven't seen me and I'll go easy on you Turks." He told them warningly.

Tseng frowned at him. Reno clapped his hands twice… and from the dark alleys, a bunch of ShinRa Soldiers approached them. "Sorry, sir. Orders from your father." Elena reasoned with a dismayed smile on her face.

Rufus looked around. They were surrounded… but Lucrecia was the one who can run off and escape. Clenching his fists, he turned to her and yelled, "Go, Lucrecia! Run away!"

Without further ado, Lucrecia bolted off, pushing some Soldiers away from her path and rushed to the nearest alley she could go into.

"Go after her!" Tseng urged, pushing Elena to lead some Soldiers. She obeyed immediately, taking around five Soldiers with her. The Soldier started firing at Lucrecia.

The rest of the Soldiers and the remaining Turks began to come closer to Aerith and Rufus. "Oh no… Rufus…" she said softly.

"Bloody hell… just when we're unequipped with Materia and we have no weapons…" he muttered miserably. But he had his gaze on one of the Soldiers who was closest to him. "If I could get my hands on his gun… I could use it for defense… and run away." He was thinking quietly.

Aerith swallowed hard and clenched her fists. "I don't care. I'm fighting them. I won't let them catch me and bring me back to the laboratory." She said softly with a determined look on her face.

"Alright… if that's the case," Rufus murmured before taking a step forward and then kicked the nearest Soldier's hand, making him let go of his rifle. Rufus immediately grabbed the rifle, and as soon as he did so, Aerith started attacking the rest of the Soldiers with punches and kicks.

Rufus started firing at the other Soldiers, until Rude arrived to confront him. Rude was able to kick his hand, causing him to drop the rifle to the ground. But Rufus was not to be beaten easily; he began a hand-to-hand combat with the bald Turk. "Aren't you afraid of getting a salary deduction, Rude?" he demanded angrily.

"Just doing my job, sir. Your father wants you to come home." Rude replied with a rather apologetic tone.

But Rufus was still stubborn. He still continued to fight the bald Turk. He took quick glances at Aerith and realized that she could easily escape. "Go, Aerith!" he yelled.

She gave Tseng one blow on the face, sending him flying to a wall far from them. "Gah!" Tseng reacted in pain and agony as his back hit the hard brick wall.

Aerith pushed the rest of the Soldiers away and rushed off.

"GO AFTER HER!!!" Tseng yelled angrily at Reno and at some Soldiers who were not doing anything, his Wutaian accent slipping. Rufus's frown deepened. "Damn…" he thought silently.

He realized that he has changed when he became friends with Aerith when they met in the afterlife, but he did not want anybody else to know that, so he maintained his poker-faced expression and his cold exterior. Now he was… rather helpful… and really against his father's wishes and plans.

After a few moments, Rufus stopped fighting when he saw that Reno was on his way back to them, and he was holding Aerith captive with his electric rod pointed against her neck. He was holding her hands behind her back and was twisting them slightly if she would struggle to harm him or any of the Soldiers. "Hey, Rufus. Look. It's Miss Gainsborough!" Reno said mockingly.

Aerith forced a smile at Rufus but she looked like she's in pain. "D…don't mind me, Rufus, I'm alright…" she told him.

He saw the blood trickling down from her mouth and nose, and a bruise was forming on her left cheek. Rufus's face was expressionless but he still said, "What have you done to her?"

"Forgive us, sir, but she was stubborn." Reno pointed out rather casually. Rufus thought for a while before finally saying, "Okay, I give up. I'm coming with you to ShinRa… on one condition,"

Rude helped Tseng up. "And what is that?" Tseng asked stiffly.

Rufus raked his fingers through his blonde hair and he smiled arrogantly at them. "You release the girl."

Aerith's eyes widened. "What?" she asked in disbelief.

"You heard me. Release Miss Gainsborough and I'll go back with you." He told them, ignoring Aerith's protests.

Tseng, Reno and Rude exchanged looks before finally letting go of Aerith, but they pushed the girl to the ground. She landed helplessly on the floor with a look of awe on her face. She looked up at Rufus with a concerned look on her face. He just gazed down at her with a cold look on his face before turning back to Tseng. "I didn't tell you to hurt her." He said stiffly before he offered his hand to her. She took it with a trembling hand and he helped her up. As she got up, he leaned forward to her and whispered in a low tone only audible and understandable enough for her and himself to hear, "You go find Cloud. I'll be alright. I'll make sure Old Man doesn't harm him or your friends. Go."

She swallowed hard and nodded slightly before giving him a friendly hug, "Thank you, Rufus. I always knew you had a soft spot in you." She said softly. He just stared blankly at the ground. The fight is not yet over, and he knows it. With that, she let him go and ran off. And just as Rufus had expected, Tseng commanded to Rude and to five of the Soldiers, "Get her,"

Rude ran off with the five Soldiers while Tseng and Reno approached Rufus in an attempt to grab his hand and handcuff him, but Rufus moved away from them. "No need to restrain me." He said stiffly.

            Lucrecia kept on running, but she was already beginning to feel so tired. She had been shot on her right shoulder and on her left leg, but she still struggled to run away, although she was staggering already. She passed through a lot of dark alleys and crowded streets, not knowing where else to go. She just wanted to lose the ones chasing after her.

Finally, she arrived at a certain street. The first house that she saw, she ran to, and then started pounding frantically on the hard wooden door. "Oh please! Help me! Please!!! Open the door! Help!!! Please!" she cried out in panic as tears streamed down from her face.

But no one was opening the door.

She gave one last hopeless pound on the door as she sobbed. "Please…" she said softly as she leaned against the door… and finally, somebody answered her plea and opened the door. She fell forward into the arms of some tall person.

A man.

Lucrecia held onto the man's arms for support, but she wondered why his left arm felt somewhat hard… and cold like metal. Her green eyes widened in shock before she looked up at the man. "Vinny?"

Vincent Valentine gaped at the woman before him. "L…Lucrecia?" he struggled to say.

Tifa came into view with a worried look on her face, "Vincent, who…" she gasped, "Oh my God! She's bleeding!" she cried out in shock before approaching them. "Take her inside," she said, assisting Vincent in taking Lucrecia to the couch before she shut the door and bolted it.

Lucrecia was still holding onto Vincent and looking up at him with a pleased look on her face, "Oh Vincent. I'm so glad! It's you! Am I dreaming? Oh my… I hope I'm not! It's you!!!" she said with a frantic but excited smile on her face.

Vincent felt so speechless. He doesn't know how to react further to the situation, but he snapped out of his trance when she just closed her eyes and passed out. "Lucrecia!" he cried out in surprise.

"Vincent, she's wounded! What happened to her?" Tifa aksed.

"I… I don't know… but it's like she's been shot…" Vincent concluded with a worried look on his face.

"But… it seemed like she's running away from something… or from someone…" Tifa said before rushing to the kitchen. "Take her upstairs. I'll just go get some water and the first aid kit." She instructed.

With that, Vincent took Lucrecia in his arms and carried her upstairs to his room.

            Aerith kept on running, feeling so confused and dizzy; not knowing where else to go. Rude and the Soldiers were still running after her tirelessly. "Oh God… when will this end?!" she thought in agony.

She rounded a corner and she bumped against something hard that went, "Oomph!"

"Oh I'm sorry!" Aerith apologized quickly as she accidentally held onto the man's arms to prevent herself from falling backward.

Cloud Strife's eyes widened upon recognizing her. "Aer… Aerith?!" he exclaimed.

Aerith's heart jumped in sudden joy as she slowly lifted her gaze up to him. "C…Cloud!" she exclaimed. But she almost forgot about her assailants. "Where's your sword?" she asked.

"Wh…wha?" he felt so dumbfounded and so confused.

She saw his Ultima Weapon and grabbed it from his back and turned back to face her assailants. "May I borrow this for a while?" she asked with a sweet smile on her face.

Cloud's eyes widened when he saw Rude and the Soldiers coming for them. "What the—?!" he trailed off.

He watched in awe as Aerith started attacking her assailants. Some Soldiers also attempted to attack him but he survived through hand-to-hand combat.

When he looked at Aerith, she was trying to cut Rude in half, but the Turk was too agile. Cloud instantly rushed to them, going behind Rude where he wasn't able to see him and gave him a blow at the back of his head with his elbow, knocking the Turk unconscious. With that, he grabbed his sword away from Aerith "You shouldn't be playing with dangerous weapons, Aerith!" he said with a worried look on his face before taking her by her wrist and dragged her with him to a dark alley away from the Soldiers and Rude.


	3. On The First Day Together

They Live!!!

By GQ and Zhak

Three: On the First Day Together…

_First Day back in ShinRa HQ:_

            Rufus just sat still on his bed, stroking the thick black fur of Dark Nation who was lying beside him and purring happily. He continued to stare into empty space, not moving and not saying anything.

President ShinRa stared unbelievably at his son. "It's 9 in the morning. You should've gotten up at 7 and I'm expecting that at this time, you'd be in your office already." He told him.

But Rufus still maintained his blank stare.

Scarlet, Heidegger, Reeve and Palmer exchanged worried glances with one another. They have not seen Rufus act like that before. He had refused to come down from breakfast, was not able to sleep last night, and had not said a word for the past 12 hours.

President ShinRa crossed his arms, "Aren't you happy to be back in your good ol' home away from the dirty slums?" he asked with a stiff tone, trying to sound patient.

Rufus finally turned to him with an arrogant look on his face. "The slums wouldn't be called _slums_ if you fix it." He told him before he got out of bed. He was wearing silk white pajamas. "Piss off." he commanded.

The four executives walked out of the room, but President ShinRa remained in the room.

Rufus went over to the window to look outside. "I said, piss off." he muttered.

"We need to talk," President ShinRa told him.

"What for?" Rufus asked.

"About the way you're acting! You're my Vice President and you're my only son! I can't believe you hung out with Sephiroth and that Aerith Gainsborough! And since you're back here in my care, you're going to work and perform your duties just like before, understood?" President ShinRa said angrily.

Rufus just shrugged. "Oh… just when I was getting used to becoming President, you come crawling back to your position." He turned around to face his father with a mocking smile on his face, "While you're supposed to be in the home for the aged." He mocked.

President ShinRa just frowned at him before he turned away, heading for the door. "You will have lunch with me today. We have guests here." He told him.

"Who?" Rufus asked as he flipped his hair.

"Don Corneo." President ShinRa replied before stepping out of the room.

Rufus just remained standing there, staring at the door. He felt so angry but he doesn't know how to let it all out. He was filled with so much of mixed emotions. "I have to find a way to contact Sephiroth…" he thought silently before proceeding to the bathroom.

_First Day of Training:_

            Since Wutai's in the other side of the Planet, the time zone's probably different from Midgar… lagging for some hours. Say it's 9:00 in the morning in Midgar (when we started this chapter) and then it's six hours late in Wutai… so that makes it 3:00 in the morning.

"Miss Kisaragi?" Zack gently tapped Yuffie's shoulder.

Yuffie just covered the blanket over her head and turned away from him.

Zack frowned, making a face. "Miss Kisaragi, it's time to wake up!" he told her.

"It's 3 in the morning, Zack…" she muttered sleepily.

"I know we're both sleepy and stuff… but your father said that…"

"My father said that what?" she demanded, cutting him off.

"…that you should be in the training grounds by 4? We'll start by jogging around the area." Zack explained.

"No. I'm still sleepy. Who cares what Old Man says?" she asked sleepily while suppressing a yawn.

Zack shook his head. "But if I don't do my job well, he might get mad at me… and you!" he told her.

"So what? I'm used to Old Man getting mad at me." She told him.

"Well I'm not used to your Old Man getting mad at me." He told her.

She grunted and slowly sat up on her tatami. "Ugh… I think I'm gonna be sick…" she muttered miserably.

He just stared at her. "C'mon, I'm just doing my job here as your trainer and bodyguard. If it were my choice, I'd let you sleep again because I want to sleep too." he told her softly, cautious about his surroundings (in case the walls have ears and Lord Godo would hear that).

"Well then, let's get it over with." She muttered before she got up. Zack watched her as she moved towards a closet; she was wearing her green nightshirt and green slippers, and when she opened the closet, he saw much more of the color green. He blinked and smiled. "I see you like the color green?" he asked.

"Hmm… yeah." She muttered sleepily before turning back to him. "Excuse me, I have to get dressed." She said. She was not in the mood to yell at him or scold him or something, so she just appeared so dull and lifeless.

He blushed slightly. "Oh… sorry, ma'am." He said before he rose up and went over to the door connecting his room with hers.

She grunted, "Please, stop calling me _ma'am_. I'm like, seven years younger than you are and… y'know. I feel rather uncomfortable. You can call me by my first name." she instructed.

He turned back to her. "Oh… alright… Miss Yuffie." He said.

"No, stupid! Just _Yuffie_!" she snapped, feeling somewhat annoyed.

He nodded with a sheepish smile on his face. "Oh… alright. Yuffie." He repeated before proceeding back to his own room and shut the door.

Yuffie made a disgusted face as she shook her head in annoyance. "Old Man's gonna pay for doing this to me…" she snarled as she grabbed a random piece of clothing and instantly got dressed.

_Back at the ShinRa HQ at around __1 pm_:

            "Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!"

"Gyahahahahahaha!"

 "Tralala!"

"Har har har har har har har har!!!"

Rufus remained poker-faced all throughout lunch… and he's listening disgustedly at the laughter of the executives plus Don Corneo and his Old Man's laughter too. Nobody even noticed that he hardly touched his food… in fact, he never even tasted it. He just sat still and played with it using his fork and steak knife, slicing the meat and the peas, further mashing the potatoes and spreading the gravy all throughout the whole plate, giving the laughing "hyenas" the impression that he's eating them. Reeve, Scarlet and the Turks were the only ones who noticed that he was not eating his food but just kept quiet about it.

President ShinRa gulped down the contents of his glass of red wine and wiped his lips with his table napkin before laughing out loud once more. "Har har har har har! Shall I say, VICTORY!? Har har har har har!" he laughed joyfully.

"Indeed… and I'm so happy to be back here!" Don Corneo cheered happily before he let his right hand travel to Scarlet's left leg (because she was unfortunately sitting beside him). She gasped and instantly stood up, surprising everyone.

President ShinRa stared strangely at her, "Are you alright, Scarlet?" he asked.

She smiled weakly, not wanting to cause any commotion. "Kyah… may I be excused?" she asked sheepishly.

"What for? Lunch is not yet over! We're not leaving until I said so." President ShinRa said with a mean smile on his face. Rufus rolled his eyes.

"President ShinRa is right, my dear. Better obey." Don Corneo muttered to Scarlet with a sly smile on his face. The way he was looking at her was obviously lustful… and she hated it. As she sat down again, she felt so dirty and disgusted at herself. She eyed Reeve and the Turks with a look that told them, "KYAH! HELP ME!!! I DON'T LIKE HIM!"

Reno just fought the urge to snicker. He just raised his wine glass at Scarlet and then took a sip of red wine out of it. Elena just stared sadly at Scarlet with a sorry look on her face. As usual, Rude had no reaction... and Tseng just pretended not to have noticed anything.

Reeve just mouthed, "It's alright." Thinking that Don Corneo wouldn't really go to the extremes while there are still in the dining hall.

Scarlet's frown deepened.

Rufus just stared stiffly at her before shaking his head in disbelief. He bowed down his head and just stared at his food. At that moment, he could not understand himself why he suddenly thought of all the hungry and homeless people in the world… and wondered if Lucrecia and Aerith are safe… and if Sephiroth has eaten anything already. "Bloody hell… I think hanging around Aerith has done something to my conscience…" he thought glumly. He was interrupted when Don Corneo suddenly asked President ShinRa, "So what are your plans for this year?"

President ShinRa smiled evilly before shrugging. "Well… nothing much. But there's going to be a big restoration and reconstruction project to be happening here in Sector 1… and the rebuilding of Mako Reactors will also be implemented." He turned to Hojo. "Thanks to Professor Hojo who has decided to join us here again in ShinRa." He said.

Hojo nodded his head in gratitude with a sly smile on his face. With that, President ShinRa proceeded, "And as for my one and only son, he will be celebrating his birthday on the 23rd of December… and for his birthday party, I would like him to choose his future bride." He announced.

Rufus felt so mortified, "What am I, the Prince at Cinderella?!" he cried out in protest.

"Oooh, I see! He's a Capricorn, eh?" Don Corneo pointed out excitedly. Rufus just rolled his eyes and pounded an angry fist on the table, "I don't give a rat's ass whether I'm Capricorn or Leo or whatever. I don't believe in astrology, you lecherous old man." He insulted airily before flipping his hair.

President ShinRa frowned at his son, "Enough, Rufus." He snapped.

Rufus just started glumly at him, "You are not throwing a birthday party for me." He said with a low and serious tone, as if commanding solemnly. But President ShinRa ignored his statement. "I think it's high time for you get married, Rufus. You're 21, turning 22 and…" he began, but was cut short with Don Corneo's laughter, "Hyuk hyuk hyuk! Your Rufus doesn't seem to be in the mood for parties! Maybe I could just interest him with some of my lovely girls to save time and avoid hassle!" he suggested with a pleased and determined smile on his face.

President ShinRa's face lit up, "That's a great idea! Well then, we could schedule it tonight! Rufus, you're coming with me tonight." He said, turning to Rufus with a pleased smile on his face.

"I'm busy." Rufus replied.

Silence.

"What are you going to do?" President ShinRa asked.

"Work. I have to plan a recruitment strategy for SOLDIER." Rufus replied plainly.

"Gyah, you can leave the work to me, Sir Rufus. After all, they're also under me!" Heidegger presented proudly. "And you are under me." Rufus snapped.

"And _you_, Rufus, are under me. You are my son and my Vice President. And as long as I am President, you cannot do anything about it." President ShinRa snapped.

Rufus was quiet for a while, feeling so angry and disgusted at the same time, but he does not want to show it to everyone, most especially to his Father. And he thought of something else… he just shook his head and got his glass of water and drank from it, puzzling everyone on what's going on in his mind.

President ShinRa forced a cool smile at his son, "Very well, it's settled." He turned to Don Corneo. "I guess we'll be meeting again tonight. This time, with Rufus." He told him.

_Wutai__: __11:00 am_

            "GAWDS!!!!!" Yuffie screamed when she saw how wide the river is and how mossy the stepping stones are. She also saw some crocodiles swimming around.

"I guess this is to test your agility. Your father told me to take you here." Zack told her.

She was already feeling shaky. She was already beginning to feel tired. They jogged for three hours straight, had a quick breakfast, then proceeded back to the training grounds to practice combat and self-defense, then proceeded to that river several miles away from the Kisaragi residence. It took them two hours and thirty minutes to arrive at that place and to make things worse, they just walked.

"Can we just skip this for later?" she asked with a weak smile on her face.

"Nope." Zack told her sternly.

She just snorted. "Okay, tell you what, I'll give you all the Materia that I have in exchange for us calling it quits for today. Deal?" she asked sweetly.

"No." Zack told her.

"You really enjoy your job, huh?" she asked miserably.

"Well… working for your dad's been fun. Besides, he's really a nice man. I'm just repaying his kindness. And besides, I need the money to go back home." He told her with a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face.

"Oh? Where do you live?" she asked.

"Gongaga." He replied. She gasped. "GAWDS! That's too far from here!" she said in shock.

"I know… that's why I'm going to use my salary to go back there… and if I could save up some more, I'm giving them to my parents." He replied.

She thought for a while. "Hmm… poor guy. Must be hard living there, huh?" she asked out loud.

"It's the reason why I decided to join SOLDIER and leave home; to help with the expenses." He explained.

"Oh, alright…" Yuffie rushed to him and giggled. "I'll give you all the money I have and you can go home. Deal?" she asked.

Zack stared unbelievably at her. "What is wrong with you? That's so unfair to you and your father… and to myself too!" he told her.

"What's so unfair about that?" she demanded with an annoyed look on her face.

"It's cheating!" he pointed out.

"So?" she asked casually.

He took a deep breath before saying, "Cheating is bad." She laughed at him, "Oh c'mon, Zack! It's just the money you're after, right? So I'm giving you the money and then you can go back to your mommy and daddy who must've been waiting for you for so long already." She told him.

"Not just the money. I've always been taught that money isn't really important, but the self-satisfaction that I could get from helping people." He told her.

"Well you're definitely not helping people here." She sneered.

"I could help you and I'm willing to; but the effort should also come from you!" he told her.

She frowned at him. "Are you giving me a lecture? You sound worse than my dad." She snapped impatiently.

Zack was beginning to get a little impatient because Yuffie was being such a brat. Taking another deep breath, he exhaled sharply and then said stiffly, "Yes, I'm giving you a lecture because you're not following directions. Now go over there and cross the river using those stepping stones. If you slip and fall, then you're slow."

She snorted. "You're selfish, you know that? You want me to cross that river just so that after a hard day's work, you could get your wage at the expense of my life being in danger because of those crocodiles!" she told him with a know-it-all air.

"Well look who's talking? Now do as I say and be a good girl." He told her.

"Will you stop talking to me like I'm a kid?!" she demanded angrily.

"I will if you stop if you prove to me that you're not a kid anymore by crossing that river." He said patiently before sitting on a big rock.

She clenched her fists. "GAWDS!!! You make me sick!" she screamed at his face before walking over to the river bank.

Zack observed her quietly with a slight frown on his face. "This girl is more stubborn than I thought!" he was thinking quietly to himself.

Yuffie stopped by the shore and stared at the water and at the crocodiles. "Ugh… He'll have his day… I swear! One day, he's gonna get it! He's really gonna get it! Ooooh, I can't wait to get my little shurikens to cut through his nasty skin! Hahahahahaha!" she was thinking nastily before deciding to jump onto the first stepping stone. As soon as she landed, she almost slipped, surprising Zack.

"Whoa!!" she cried out before jumping onto the next stepping stone. The crocodiles started snapping their jaws as they approached the stepping stone where she currently had her left foot carefully maintaining her balance. "GAWDS!!! I think they're going to eat me!!!" she cried out in fear.

"They _are_ going to eat you if you don't hurry!" Zack yelled at her. He had to admit, he felt quite worried that she might just easily fall or slip into the water and get injured… or worse, eaten alive by crocodiles. He got up and rushed to the riverbank, but he stopped halfway when Yuffie snapped at him, "STOP! I can do this without your help!" she said with determination. He was surprised when she said that. He just stood still, staring unbelievably at her as she jumped onto the third stepping stone, which was five meters away from the second. The crocodiles instantly followed her and one of them even decided to stay put on the fourth one so that if she jumps onto it, she would easily land in its mouth. Yuffie cringed at the sight of the crocodile. She looked ahead of her and saw several more stepping stones before she could reach the next island. "Oh man!!!" she carefully pulled out her shuriken blades and instantly threw them at the crocodile as she jumped… and threw all the other blades at the incoming crocodiles that just jumped out of the water to lunge at her, their jaws wide open. She shrieked, but she still went on.

Zack watched in disbelief and in awe at her display of agility. He never expected her to be _that_ fast and good at aiming and throwing the shuriken blades at the crocodiles. He also wondered how those crocodiles were able to jump as high as the ones that tried to attack Yuffie.

Finally, after a few more moments, she was able to reach the end and landed safely on the other side of the river. She was panting heavily as she listened to Zack cheer for her, "Great! Good job! That was very good! Woohoo!!!"

She clenched her fists and turned around to look at him from the other side where she came from. "GAWDS!!! I almost died in there! Stop cheering, dammit!!!" she screeched impatiently at him.

Zack just laughed at her. "Well you didn't die, thank the good Lord. So, for your next test…" he purposely trailed off, waiting for her to react to what he said, but she just smiled sarcastically at him. "Don't tell me I have to go back there and do the same thing again?" she thought miserably. She yelled at him, "I CAN'T DO THAT ANYMORE! I'M TIRED!!!"

"Well at least try!" he called back at her.

She stomped her foot angrily. "Aw, c'mon, Zack?! My legs are still shaking and I'm gonna run out of shuriken blades!!!" she shouted at him.

"Then use no weapon!" he called back.

She just stared unbelievably at him. "Oh alright! But you'll have to promise me that once I get back there, we'll head back home so that we can eat lunch!" she called out before preparing to cross, jogging lightly in place.

"Can't do that! We still have so much to do." He told her.

She froze. "WHAT?! But I'm hungry!!!" she wailed.

"We'll eat at thirteen hundred hours…" he told her.

"That's 1 pm!!!" she wailed.

"I know. So hurry! It's only 2 hours before that time arrives!" he told her.

She snorted and clenched her fists angrily. "Hmf! This hedgehog is really a pain in the ass. I wonder if he got kicked out of Soldier because of his stubbornness and arrogance!" she mumbled to herself. Then she stopped and smiled evilly. "Hmm…" she licked her lips before crossing her arms. "Hey, Zack! Why don't you come here?" she called out.

Zack's eyes widened upon hearing that. "What?" he called out.

"Come over here!" she repeated.

He frowned slightly. "No, you come over here instead." He told her.

"Hey, you're my instructor! You're supposed to make sure that your student is fine after a test!" she yelled.

"Well you look fine from here! So come back now!" he called out.

She smiled meanly at him, "Heeheeheehee! Why? Are you scared of crossing?" she teased.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yuffie, come back here now!" he called out, wanting to change the subject. He had to admit, he is not _that_ agile, so he did not really want to go there to her.

But she just shrugged. "I'm not crossing unless you come here to me." She told him.

Silence.

"That's playing dirty. I'm not in the mood to play dirty!" he told her.

"Well _I'm_ in the mood to play dirty so come on!" she told her.

Silence.

"Did you know that if someone is eavesdropping on us, they could've thought that we're talking about _something else_?" he asked.

"What ever do you mean by that, Zack?" she asked, pretending to be innocent.

"Oh never mind. I might corrupt your childish brain." He told her.

She shrieked at him, "GAWDS!!!!! Don't you ever refer to me as a child, y'hear?!"

He just shrugged at her and smiled coolly. "Okay, I'll stop treating you like a kid if you come back here this instant." He told her.

"You're blackmailing me." She pointed out.

"How would you know if I'm blackmailing you?" he asked.

"Like DUH!!! Isn't it obvious, you hedgehog!" she snapped.

He froze. "What?" he asked.

"HEDGEHOG, HEDGEHOG, HEDGEHOG, HEDGEHOG!!!" she chanted while jumping around in circles and waving her hands in the air like a crazy child.

He cringed and placed his hands on his hips. "Yuffie, I'm warning you! I could lose my patience, y'know?!" he warned.

"Go ahead! You'll lose your job and you'll never ever return to Gongaga ever again! Hahahaha! Or worse, you could get punished by daddeeeee!!!" she chanted happily.

Zack scratched his head. "Man… being with this girl is worse than training in Soldier or getting yelled at by Sephiroth for failing to do 30 squats!" he was thinking in annoyance.

            "Oh Aerith! We're so glad to have you back here!" Tifa was saying for the nth time rather excitedly as she rushed to Aerith and embraced her tightly. Everytime she saw Aerith in the house, she would instantly jump to her feet, run to her and give her a happy friendly hug. Aerith felt so stunned whenever she would do that, but deep inside, she was glad to be home with her old friends.

Tifa let go of her and giggled. "So, what would you have for dinner? I can cook for you and Cloud!" she presented.

Aerith blushed slightly. "Uhm… I… that's why I went down here in the kitchen so that I can help you cook dinner for everybody." She said.

"No, you just sit comfortably in the living room or upstairs in Cloud's room while I'm preparing your dinner!" Tifa insisted.

"But… why?" Aerith asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

Tifa giggled before whispering in her ear, "I'm just so glad to see you and Cloud together once again. I can finally have peace of mind that he's going to be happy with you and not with any other girl." She winked at Aerith. Aerith blinked. "You mean there are other women?" she asked in shock.

"No! I mean, it's you that he loves, right? So… so there! Heehee! I can't really elaborate coz I'm so excited, really… and I hope I don't jinx it." She told her.

Aerith smiled gently at her, getting her message. "I see…" she said before embracing Tifa. "Thank you for being here, Teef." She said softly.

Tifa smiled softly, "Sure thing, Aerith. You and Cloud have been the only best friends I've ever had… especially you! Heehee!" she told her.

They were both interrupted when they heard someone coming down the stairs. They both took a peek and smiled welcomingly at Vincent Valentine. "Hey, Vinny!" Tifa greeted.

Vincent instantly smiled back at them, an action that they have never encountered before while talking to him. "You look happy," Aerith pointed out, although she already knows the reason why.

"Well, I… uhm… I do?" he asked, trying to sound casual and fighting his emotions back so that he would not blush in front of the girls.

Tifa giggled. "It's alright, Vincent. We know."

Vincent was stunned, not knowing what else to say.

With that, the two girls rushed to the kitchen, giggling hysterically, leaving Vincent puzzled.

"Vincent?" a voice from behind him called out. He turned to the stairs and saw Lucrecia coming down. He was surprised at her, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" he asked her.

She smiled gently. "I've never felt better." She told him as she finally reached the first floor, accepting the welcome in his arms. "But I'm worried about Sephiroth. I think he's already worried about me, Aerith and Rufus because we didn't return last night." She told him with a concerned tone.

"I heard bad words!" Barret called out from the front door as he stepped inside. He just arrived home after doing some groceries.

Lucrecia was surprised at him and she hid behind Vincent.

"And what, may I ask are those bad words?" Vincent asked casually.

"Sephiroth and Rufus." Barret replied.

"Oh you don't know what you're saying, Mister Wallace. My son is a changed man, so is Rufus." Lucrecia pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, lady. Look, once evil, always evil. Sooner or later, the two of them could be plotting against world destruction once more!" Barret trailed off and approached her with a threatening look on his face. "Hey, how do we know if you're just a spy from ShinRa—you and Aerith!" he said. "… no, maybe not Aerith… Yer the only ex-ShinRa in here!"

Lucrecia tightened her grip on Vincent's arm with a frown on her face. "If I was a spy, they wouldn't shoot me like what they did last night." She said.

"Stop it, Barret. She's still mentally and physically weak. You can't talk to her just like that." Vincent warned him.

And Barret started laughing at them which made everyone confused, including Tifa and Aerith who were in the kitchen listening. He patted Vincent's shoulder, "Just kidding you, Vincent… and Miss Lucrecia. Sorry if I scared you." He apologized with a kind smile on his face.

Vincent felt relieved that Barret was just joking. Lucrecia smiled sarcastically at Barret. "I think I'm gonna pass out…" she said before walking over to the door.

"Hey, hey, where are you going?" Barret asked her with a concerned tone.

"I'm going to go back to the apartment that we rented to get my son." She told him.

"You're letting Sephiroth stay here?!" Barret asked unbelievably.

"Vincent, we've talked about this last night, right?" she asked, turning to Vincent. Vincent looked at Barret with a reassuring expression on his face, "It's alright, Barret. I…" he began, but Barret cut him off, "Wouldn't it be dangerous?!"

Silence.

"It's not dangerous for me. I can walk and think clearly now. My bullet wounds have healed overnight, thanks to the JENOVA cells in my system. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my son." She told him before opening the door, but Barret stopped her and shut the door again. "No, ma'am. Can't let you do that." Barret told her.

"Why not?" Lucrecia demanded.

"First of all, how could you guarantee that Sephiroth wouldn't do any harm to us just like Rufus? And second, it's dangerous for you to go out at this point in time. There are ShinRa Soldiers roaming around." He pointed out.

All eyes turned to the kitchen doorway upon hearing Aerith speak up, "Rufus was the one who helped me and Lucrecia escape the ShinRa Soldiers and the Turks. When they caught me, it was he who had to exchange his freedom for my freedom."

"But they still went after you," Barret told her.

"But I know in my heart that he did not wish for that to happen. Rufus is a changed man, Barret… and so is Sephiroth. He was the one willing to protect all of us just in case President ShinRa tries to do something bad again! He and Rufus are friends now, and so are we!" Aerith explained.

Barret could see the truth in Aerith's eyes, but he did not say anything more.

Lucrecia could feel herself shaking as she wiped her tears away. It was only then that she realized that she was crying already. "Now please, I need to find Sephiroth before Hojo finds him. I don't want Hojo to do the things that he had done before on my one and only boy…" she said sternly. Vincent bowed down his head. Just the mention of Hojo's name made him feel somewhat angry. He wondered why the people who really made everybody's lives miserable and had remained evil up to that day had to come back along with Lucrecia, Aerith, Sephiroth and Rufus. "Hojo should've just stayed dead…" Vincent muttered before turning back to her, "You just stay here; I'll fetch Sephiroth for you." He told her reassuringly.

            The sun was already beginning to set but Yuffie was still on the other side of the river. She was already sitting down on a rock and staring at the direction where Zack was still standing. "Give up?" she asked with a mocking smile on her face.

Zack just stood still. "Yuffie, please! Aren't you hungry? Let's go home!" he told her sternly.

"Nah. I lost my appetite. Just watching you there and realizing that you're a chicken keeps me stuffed. Heehee." She called out.

Silence.

"Come on, Yuffie, this isn't funny anymore!" he told her as patiently as he could.

"Heeheeheehee!" she just giggled.

Zack clenched his fists. She was really stubborn… and he could not really risk losing the only job he has at that moment. Besides, even if he did lose his current job, he'd still be stuck in Wutai and so he'd eventually have to look for another job there; but since the Kisaragis are such influential persons in the country, his reputation for being "a stubborn guardian" or simply "a coward" would spread across the land, and nobody would want "a stubborn guardian" or "a coward", so he'd end up as a bum and suffer and then probably die in Wutai anyway. "IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" he yelled in vain after thinking of what could happen to him if he does not give into Yuffie's whim. "Oh well, at least just for today. Tomorrow will be different. I'll be hard on her. I'm sure Lord Godo will understand. She's a stubborn brat that needs to be taught a lesson…" he thought to himself with a regretful look on his face before placing his Buster Sword on his back and walked near the shore.

Yuffie's face lit up upon realizing that Zack is ready to jump. "Ooh! This I gotta see!" she said a she crossed her legs and sat up straight.

Zack swallowed hard. "If Sephiroth was here or even General Heidegger, they'd be proud of me if I could cross! Yeah, that's something to look forward to!" he thought before he finally jumped. "Besides, the crocodiles must be asleep now since it's been 5 hours…"

Upon landing on the first rock, ALL the crocodiles snapped their jaws in anticipation.

"AH! It's so unfair!!!" Zack yelled in desperation. He knew what the crocs were saying in their own croc language: "Yum! We be havin' hedgehog steak!"

Yuffie giggled almost sadistically as she watched Zack barely land on the slippery rocks that were almost pure green because of the massive amount of moss growing on them. "See how fun it is, Zacky?" she yelled playfully at him with a sweet smile on her face.

"Don't talk to me!" Zack growled as his boots barely avoided a very hungry crocodile's jaws. He jumped from mossy rock to mossy rock, always almost slipping off and falling into the murky green water. "Almost there… don't let them or her get to you…" he thought to himself.

Yuffie laughed and laughed, enjoying Zack's humbling moment. She laughed so hard, that she didn't notice that a crocodile grew tired of attempting to chow on Zack and instead, rose from the water and go after Yuffie herself…

The ninja stopped laughing when it heard a low growl from beside her. "Aah…" her voice was meek now.

_Snap. _"YAAAAAH! OH GAWDS!" Yuffie, quick as lightning, jumped away from the crocodile and threw several shuriken blades all at once. Five of those instantly hit the crocodile that attempted to harm her, while the rest unintentionally flew over to Zack. "Whoa!!!" he reacted in surprise as he tried to avoid the blades, but he instantly lost his balance and fell into the water, shocking Yuffie.  "OH MY GAWD!!!!!" she cried out, suddenly not knowing what to do.

Zack got his Buster Sword and tried his best to ward off the crocodiles whose jaws were already wide open and ready to eat him up as he swam quickly going to the shore, but there were too many of those crocs so at one point, the crocs crowded onto him, making him sink. He let out a cry of despair before completely sinking down.

Yuffie rushed to the water. "GAWDS!!! Zack, you're going to kill us both!!!" she screamed angrily as she dove into the water to rescue him.

            "Hmm… such a wonderful night, isn't it, Rufus?" President ShinRa asked happily as they entered the Honeybee Inn. The Turks were there to escort them, but once they reached inside, they spread out across the lobby. "I already had the Don reserve the #$% Room for you." President ShinRa whispered.

"Oh joy." Rufus muttered sarcastically.

"Har har har har! Well then, I'll just go to Don Corneo for a while to tell him that we're already here." President ShinRa headed over to the Group Room with a joyful laugh.

Rufus rolled his eyes and watched in annoyance as his father entered the Group Room. With that, he turned around to face the Turks. "Come here," he summoned.

Tseng, Rude, Reno and Elena exchanged looks for a while before approaching the President.

"So, sir… looks like you're gonna be _devirginized_ tonight, eh? Heheh." Reno teased casually. Rufus just stared warningly at him and he shut up. With that, Rufus began. "I'll make sure you get your next bonuses this coming weekend, plus salary raises for the next six months…"

"Really?! Cool! Thanks, sir! You're really the best!" Elena cheered happily.

"Hush now; don't get too excited, Elena." Rufus told her with a sly smile on his face before he flipped his hair and proceeded, "Now, here's 2,500 Gil… go inside the #$% Room and have a good time there… order all the drinks you want and all the food you want. I'll just be going somewhere else…" he told them as he handed some cash to Tseng worth 2,500 Gil.

Silence.

"You don't have to pay us, sir. We won't tell President ShinRa what you're up to." Tseng reassured.

Rufus was quite surprised at the statement.

"We know you don't like this place and you're not interested in meeting whores. So go now! Scoot! Heheh." Reno said, giving Rufus a slight shove towards the exit door.

Rufus shoved him back, and dusting his sleeve where Reno had touched him to give a push. "Don't touch me." He muttered arrogantly before walking out of the Honeybee Inn.

"Still as touchy as ever, huh?" Reno asked Tseng.

"Yes, yes… but believe me, he is a changed man." Tseng told them.

"What do you mean, sir?" Elena asked curiously. "Yeah. Were you guys in heaven and you met God that's why you're all behaving differently?" Reno chimed in, but she protested, "But if they were in heaven, how come President ShinRa still acts like before during his first life?"

Tseng shook his head. "President ShinRa just hung out with the wrong crowd of dead people, that's what happened while we were dead. I don't really know what happened but we just came back here in this Planet… I think it was a full moon night when we felt like our souls are being sucked into some kind of… life-filled force. The next thing we knew, we were at a hospital in Kalm!" he explained.

"…but what happened? How come Rufus, Aerith that Lucrecia woman aren't with you in the hospital?" Reno asked.

Tseng shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Maybe they escaped while the rest were still sleeping. President ShinRa did not even know if they were also revived. But he's really pleased to be back here." He pointed out before smiling proudly, "Rufus and Sephiroth became very good friends with Aerith, so I guess that's what made him change."

"Gee… so kindness of another person can rub off on Rufus. I thought he was the most insensitive man on this Planet," Elena said while scratching her head with a slight smile on her face.

Tseng turned his gaze to the door of the Group Room, "Listen up, Turks. Sir Rufus needs our help here, so I want…" he turned to Reno with a serious look on his face, "…you and Elena to go inside the #$% Room and occupy it for the meantime." He commanded.

Silence.

"WHAT?!" Elena screeched.   
"Shhhh!!!" Tseng hushed.

"Whehehey!" Reno cheered with a sly smile on his face as he raised one eyebrow, gazing at Elena from head to toe.

"You're not going to do anything! You're just going to sit inside and switch on the television and I know there are erotic channels there, so you switch into one of those so that if President ShinRa decides to listen…" Tseng began.

"Hey, hey, hey… boss, wait a sec." Elena protested, jumping up and down in annoyance before calming down again. She smiled weakly at him, "Why don't we just go in there, switch on the TV, put it in that porn TV station thing you're talking about, and then close the door and stand outside here and make sure that the lights inside are switched off so that President ShinRa won't see anything in case he peeps through that keyhole?" she suggested.

Silence.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Tseng muttered with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Coz you're stupid. Heheh." Reno muttered before snickering. Tseng flashed him a warning look before turning back to Elena. "That's a good idea, Elena. And if President ShinRa asks why the lights are switched off…" he continued.

"We'll just tell him that Rufus prefers to _do it in the dark_. Heheh." Reno chimed in.

"Yes, yes, that's exactly it. So… go now!" Tseng said, turning to Rude.

"Me?" Rude asked, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

"Yes, you." Tseng said.

With that, Rude proceeded carefully to the #$% Room and did what was planned.

Reno turned to Tseng, "Say, Boss, how'd you know that they have porn stations in this place?" he asked.

Silence.

Elena giggled.

Tseng blushed. "No, I haven't rented a room in here before. I just had to accompany President ShinRa one time… never mind. It was disgusting." He told them.

Reno slouched and he looked dismayed, "Aw shucks. I thought you'd have access to one of the rooms here. Heheh. But actually, I'd rather go for your Plan A… you know, where Elena and I would go in there?" he asked with a hinting tone while naughtily eyeing Elena. She just stuck out her tongue at him and looked away, crossing her arms.

Tseng chuckled lightly, "Now, now, Reno, that's no way to treat a young lady!" he scolded rather jokingly, surprising the two Turks. Tseng used to be such a serious person from way back, but he also seems different at present. Reno just smiled. "Heheh. But didn't Rufus tell us to go inside the #$% room and then we'll order all the drinks we want?" he asked.

"We'll do it during our off… in another place." Tseng told them.

Finally, Rude arrived with an accomplished motion. "I already switched off the lights." He said before he shut the door.

"Cool!" Elena cheered.

They were interrupted when President ShinRa and Don Corneo came out from the Group Room. The former frowned upon realizing that Rufus wasn't there anymore, "Where's my boy?" he demanded.

"He's already inside, Your Excellency." Reno replied with a pleased smile on his face.

President ShinRa's expression brightened upon hearing that. "Oooh. Too excited, huh? Who's the lucky girl and where'd you find her?" he asked happily.

"Is it one of the girls here?" Don Corneo asked excitedly.

"Uhm…" Tseng hesitated, turning to Elena and Reno in confusion, his eyes telling them, "Say something!"

Rude thought for a while before saying, "Uh… no, sir. She's an outsider… some… rich girl from Sector 1."

President ShinRa's eyes widened. "A rich girl?" he asked.

"Daughter of the… uh… rich ambassador from…" Elena began, and Reno continued, "From Gongaga!"

Silence.

"Gongaga?" Don Corneo asked.

"I don't think they'd be rich enough to have an ambassador." President ShinRa told them skeptically.

"Oh… the former ambassador… descended from the former ambassador, that is. Heheh." Reno explained.

"Well then, uh… What's her name?" President ShinRa asked excitedly.

"Uhm…" Tseng began, but couldn't think of any.

"Tifa?" Rude chimed in.

Silence.

Reno couldn't believe Rude said that, but Rude bit his lower lip like he wanted to say, "Hey it was the first name that popped out from my mind!"

"Tifa who? I want to know the surname to prove if she's really rich or not." President ShinRa said sternly.

"…" Rude replied.

"We're not really sure…" Elena began.

"Er… you know… somewhat like… Leonhart, or something like that? We can't remember…" Reno said.

President ShinRa frowned. "Well… after he's done, ask the girl and tell me all important information about her. Understood?"

The Turks saluted. The President smiled. "Now, Corneo, find me a woman for myself…"

The Don laughed. "Of course, Mr. President, right this way…" and they walked off, their boorish laughter echoing throughout the hall. The Turks felt so relieved while they watched the two head over to the office of the manager of the inn.

"That was close!" Tseng pointed out as he wiped his sweaty brow.

Reno nudged Rude, "Why the hell did you have to say Tifa's name?!" he demanded in shock.

"But… it was the first female name that entered my mind!" Rude replied with a panicky tone.

Silence.

"Well at least let's be thankful that President ShinRa was not able to identify the name anymore!" Tseng told them with a weak smile on his face.

Then, President ShinRa returned with a speculating look on his face. "Turks," he called out, making them freeze in sudden fear. "Y…yes, your Excellency?" Tseng asked, trying to sound casual.

President ShinRa was rubbing his chin in speculation. "I was just wondering… you said her name is Tifa, right?" he asked.

"Y…yes, sir." Rude replied.

President ShinRa thought for a while before walking over the #$% Room. "I want to see…" he began, attempting to open the door, but Elena stepped ahead of him and blocked his way, "Oh no, sir. You wouldn't wanna. They're quite busy right now." She said with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Get out of the way Elena," he commanded sternly. She stepped aside. He grabbed the doorknob and tried to twist it open, but it was locked. He frowned in annoyance.

"You see, sir, your son likes to be private with her." Reno told him.

"So you mean he's met her before?" President ShinRa asked.

"Er… yes, sir." Reno replied.

"When?" the President asked.

Tseng was thinking, "Right after you died. Duh." But decided to just keep quiet. He could recall that AVALANCHE was there when the President died during his first life… and it was the first time that Rufus had met the rebel group… so she was there!  When nobody answered, President ShinRa just decided to take a peek through the key hole, but couldn't see a thing. "It's dark." He remarked.

"Oh, maybe he's the type of person who likes to do _it_ in the dark." Reno explained casually as he leaned against the wall.

President ShinRa leaned his head against the door to try to listen for any sound. His eyes widened at what he heard. "Oooh. Aren't they being too fast?" he asked as he moved away with a surprised look on his face.

Reno, Rude and Tseng exchanged looks before rushing to the door and decided to listen. Tseng raised an eyebrow while Reno stopped himself from laughing. Rude just twisted his lips in a scornful manner. The three male Turks faced the President before smiling weakly at him. "Er… looks like you don't know your son very well, huh?" was all Tseng mentioned.

President ShinRa just smiled. "Well, at least I can be proud of him now. He's gonna be just like me! Har har har har har har har har har!" he laughed joyfully before leaving them.

The Turks sighed in relief. "That was really close!!!" Reno exclaimed.

"Good work on choosing the right channel, Rude." Tseng told the bald Turk.

Rude just blushed slightly and nodded in reply.

"So, what do we do here now?" Reno asked.

Tseng just shook his head in dismay. "We'll have to wait until President ShinRa says it's time to go home." He told them.

"But what if Sir Rufus doesn't return here when his dad wants to go home already?" Elena asked in sudden worry.

They all fell silent. They never really asked Rufus whether he'd return or not… and if he doesn't return, they know that they'll really get into trouble.

Tseng swallowed hard. "I'll just send a text message to his mobile phone… I hope he will read it…" he told them with an unsure look on his face.

            Yuffie slowly and carefully opened the front door of the Kisaragi residence and carefully dragged in the unconscious and slightly-injured Zack inside. It was already way past midnight when they arrived back home because there was no available transportation and she had a hard time dragging him around with her going back to the village where she lives.

"GAWDS!!! This guy is heavier than I thought! He's worse than 10 anvils combined altogether!" she thought miserably as she headed for the hallway where their rooms are located. When she reached his room, she carefully opened the door and switched on the lights… and she screeched in shock. There was her father standing there with a deep frown on his face, looking so frustrated at something. His arms were crossed and he was looking down at them like they did something bad to disgrace him. Yuffie smiled sheepishly. "Er… Hi, daddy! Eheh…" she said weakly before she bowed down her head.

Lord Godo stared furiously at his daughter and then at Zack. "Where have you two been? Do you know what time it is?" he asked in a low tone.

Yuffie just ignored him as she took Zack to his bed. Lord Godo repeated the question, "Do you know what time it is?" but this time, his voice was louder and it sounded like a growl. She looked up at him with tired but annoyed eyes, "I know what time it is! It's past midnight and I'm sorry. We got into some trouble… and it's all my fault…" she said with a pout on her face before she bowed down her head.

"It's three in the morning, for crying out loud!" Lord Godo yelled angrily.

Yuffie did not answer. She just wiped the dirt off her face and got up. "Call the other servants and tell them to clean him up." She told him.

"What happened to him?" he asked, trying to sound calmer.

"Never mind that. It's my fault." She told him.

"What fault?" he asked.

"I… provoked him… no… talked him into crossing the river after I did so… and…" she trailed off when she noticed Zack slightly move and then winced in pain. His legs were quite bloody and the sight of it is making her nauseous. "Ugh…" she reacted in disgust.

"And you had to drag him back here?" he asked.

"Yeah coz there's no other way. I can't cross the river again with him because he's so heavy so I had to walk from the other side and the path is longer back here so… it took me several hours. And I'm tired right now so could you just tell the other servants to take care of him?" she asked before she decided to walk away.

"Everyone is already asleep. You are responsible for Zack like he is responsible for you… and you let this happen to him?!" Lord Godo asked in disbelief.

"It was an accident!" Yuffie wanted to cry. She was so tired and queasy and dirty and hungry and she wanted to go to sleep already. She was filled with mixed emotions that tears started to well up in her eyes.

"What, are you going to cry?" Lord Godo challenged.

She just sniffed and wiped her tears away. "N…no. I'm not going to cry. I'm just… disgusted!" she said in protest with a weak tone before she swallowed hard and turned back to Zack. She bent down and carefully untied his boots and removed them from his feet.

Lord Godo's expression softened as he observed the shaky hands of his daughter. He shook his head in disbelief. "You still have a lot more to learn about life, dear Yuffie." He was thinking silently before he decided to just help her.

=================================

GQ's Notes: Well, what do you think? Please!!! Please, please, I beg of you… I need your reviews!!! o' Tell me anything and everything you think about this fic. Constructive criticisms are welcome…so please….. =='


	4. Plans and More Plans

They Live!!!

Chapter 4: Plans and More Plans

            Vincent was finally able to arrive at the most poverty-stricken spot in Sector 7, where he could clearly feel Sephiroth's strong aura. Carefully, he made his way through the crowds of people crowding the streets. There seemed to be a fiesta celebration there but he was not sure of the occasion on why the people are celebrating in the middle of a cold street. He looked up at one of the small buildings and proceeded to the door. He just entered and saw that the whole place was very messy and the hallway was small. There was this terrible stench of rotting wood coming from somewhere… He quickly walked to the stairs and went up, straight to the second floor. He followed the aura that he was feeling until he was able to arrive at one particular room. He carefully knocked with his right hand.

After a few moments, he heard heavy footsteps coming from inside the room approaching the door. The door opened all of a sudden and it somewhat surprised Vincent.

The two of them stared curiously at one another. "Eh?" Sephiroth felt somewhat perplexed. He could recognize him but could not remember his name.

Vincent forced a kind smile at the son of his beloved Lucrecia, "Uh… Pleasant evening. Remember me?" was his greeting.

Sephiroth just shrugged. "I'm not really sure… you're Vinny, right?" he asked.

Vincent was surprised. Nobody else had called him by that nickname but his friends… and Lucrecia. "Maybe Lucrecia told him about me." He thought before saying, "Well… _Vincent_, actually…"

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows at him and laughed rather embarrassingly, "Oh yeah… right... _Vincent_. Sorry. Almost forgot about your name." he told him.

Vincent looked past his shoulders and could see what's inside the room: a worn-out bed, tearing wallpaper, wooden floor planks, a leaking roof… and a very small space. He could not imagine Lucrecia being there with three other people and then they're all able to fit in such a room.

"You're here," Sephiroth began with an uneasy tone as he placed his hand behind his back. Vincent noticed his sudden action and turned to look at him again. "Yes… I am." Was all he said.

Sephiroth bit his lower lip. Worry could now be seen in his green Mako eyes. "Where's my mommy?" he asked in a rather child-like way that made Vincent smile a little. "I think he's turned into a momma's boy already…" he thought silently before replying, "Your mom's with me and the others in Tifa's house. It's several blocks away from here, so if you want to catch the next cab, maybe we could leave early so that you could see her again."

Sephiroth felt so relieved. "Oh thank you… I've been so worried about my mother ever since last night. I thought something bad happened to her already." He told him as he gave Vincent a hug.

Vincent felt rather uncomfortable being hugged by a guy. "Oh please… don't." he said with hesitation and shame as he gently pushed Sephiroth away and smiled weakly at him. Sephiroth just shrugged. "Oh… sorry. Got carried away." He told him as he smiled. "Thank you for helping my mom… but… what about Aerith and Rufus? Where are they?" he asked.

"Aerith is… with your mom…" Vincent began, but Sephiroth cut him off, "Oh good! So that means she's seen Cloud already. That's good to hear… erhm… what about Rufus?" he asked.

Vincent thought for a while before saying, "He's… in ShinRa."

Silence.

"What?" Sephiroth asked in disbelief.

"In exchange for Aerith's freedom and safety." Vincent told him.

"But…" Sephiroth began, but he was interrupted when his stomach just started rumbling. Vincent raised his eyebrows at him. Sephiroth smiled sheepishly at him. "Heheh. Sorry 'bout that. I haven't eaten for the past 24 hours because I was too worried about my mom." He explained.

Vincent just forced a smile at him, "I see… well then, let's get going now. Before we go to Tifa's house, I'll just treat you to dinner first. I haven't even had a bite myself because I had a hard time locating this place." He told him.

With that, Sephiroth went inside the room again and picked up his Masamune. "Gee, thanks." He said before heading over to Vincent again. "Mom's right. You're a nice guy." He told him frankly.

Vincent felt a little stunned, "Really?" he asked, feeling his cheeks getting warmer.

Sephiroth laughed in his usual "Mwahahahahaha!" as he slapped Vincent's back… quite hard, that Vincent almost fell off from the stairs as they were going down. "Uhm… anyway, where do you want to eat?" Vincent asked.

Sephiroth thought for a while before remembering something and his face lit up a little even though his eyes looked serious, "Does Tifa serve food in her 7th Heaven bar?" he asked.

"If you ask nicely, she'll feed you." Vincent replied with a slight smile on his face. He could sense something good in Sephiroth already… and he sensed that he could be friends with him. Very good friends.

Sephiroth shook his head. "Nah… I think I'll just have drinks there later… oh wait, what about in the Wall Market? There are restaurants there, right?" he asked.

"From what I can remember from my Turk days, yes. I haven't been there for a long time." Vincent told him. Sephiroth laughed gleefully, "Mwahahahaha! Cool! Let's have dinner there!" he declared.

            "Hey, Cloud, where's Tifa?" Aerith asked as she entered their room.

Cloud turned around from the window where he was staring at the ShinRa Tower. "Oh. Hi, Aerith." He greeted with a smile on his face. "Tifa's in her bar, working." He continued.

Aerith felt a little dismayed. "Oh… I was wondering if I could talk to her or something…" she said softly.

"About what?" he asked. She just giggled. "Oh you know… girly stuff. Tee hee!" she told him playfully before she sat down on the bed. He watched her as she moved to the bed and sat down before he sat down on the windowpane. "I'm sorry if you can't leave the house, Aerith. You know how dangerous it is… you understand, don't you?" he asked.

She smiled sweetly. "Oh, Cloud. It's alright if I had to stay in this house all day as long as you are here to keep me company." She said.

He blushed at what she said. "R…really?" he asked rather softly.

"But can't I help in Tifa's bar?" she asked.

Cloud blinked and frowned slightly as he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you can't." he told her before he scratched his head, "Why are you so restless anyway?" he asked rather frankly.

Aerith fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "It's just between me, Rufus, Sephiroth and Lucrecia." And she winked at him before she got up from the bed and went over to the door.

"Where are you going? I'm not yet finished with you!" Cloud called out, jumping onto her and grabbing her from behind. They both laughed happily as they spun around oh how sweet in circles until they both fell onto the bed, feeling dizzy, but they were still laughing.

"Oh Cloud, I missed you." She said softly as she gazed up dreamily at the ceiling. She could feel his strong grip on her stomach, like he doesn't have the intention to let her go.

He smiled softly as he smelled her hair, but he did not say anything back to her. Silently, he was just thinking, "I missed you too, Aerith… and I don't want you to go away again…"

            "Damn!" Tifa cursed out loud as she stomped her way to the door and flipped the "Closed" sign to "Open". "How the bloody hell could I forget to flip the sign?! So that's why nobody's coming in for the past three hours ever since I opened!" she muttered to herself as she placed her hands on her hips before proceeding back to the counter.

The whole day, she had felt a little disturbed and stressed out because of mass panic… ShinRa is back and Barret is beginning to plot against its downfall once more.

The television set in her bar is switched on and is on the news channel. The news channel had been airing news about ShinRa and its new plans for the year now that it's back.

She thought twice upon getting herself a drink… "Maybe something light or else I might end up getting more drunk than the usual drunkards going to this place." She told herself silently before going to the refrigerator. As she did so, she heard the front door open. "Welcome. What do you want?" she asked mindlessly without even looking at the person who just entered. She just listened to the footsteps of the person and the creak of the stool as he seated himself. "Do you have anything strong?" he asked in his cool low voice bearing the accent of a Nibelheim-raised person like herself with the air of arrogance of a person from Sector 1 of Midgar.

"What kind?" she asked before facing him. Her eyes widened upon seeing such a handsome stranger. He had blonde hair and blue eyes almost similar to Cloud's, but this stranger's eyes seem to appear emotionless and quite blank.

Rufus ShinRa stared unbelievably at her and suddenly lost his words.

She forced a kind smile at him. "What kind?" she repeated.

He snapped out of his trance. "Maybe she doesn't recognize who I am… thank goodness I messed up my hair after leaving the Wall Market." He thought silently, minding his own blonde locks that weren't brushed back as usual. He raked his fingers through his hair before shrugging. "What's your specialty? I'd like to have it." He told her.

She thought for a while before saying, "Final Heaven?"

He frowned slightly. "Final Heaven?" he asked.

"Yes. Final Heaven." She told him.

He raised his eyebrows at her, "Never heard of that drink before in other bars…" he began.

"That's because I invented it and it's exclusive only here." She said simply before turning to a cupboard by the refrigerator to get the ingredients.

"Well then what's in it?" he asked.

She turned back slightly to him and winked. "Something strong, just like what you want." She replied before turning away again.

Rufus frowned at what she said. "Such a smart aleck you are." He muttered with a slight smile on his face.

She took it as a compliment and giggled as she started making the drink.

While waiting for his drink, he could hear her humming a tune… and it sounded like the music played during his Welcoming Ceremony in Junon. "I see you like that?" he asked.

"Like what?" she asked.

"The parade music played during Rufus's Welcoming Ceremony." He pointed out.

That triggered it. The way he pronounced his own name… it made Tifa realize that he is indeed _that_ person. "So that's why there's a striking resemblance…" she thought silently before replying, "The news about his father's parade has been aired all throughout the stations, and since I heard his loud blaring music while his float passed by Sector 7 yesterday, it was simply too striking and annoying at the same time, so I try to think of other ways to prevent that music from getting stuck in my head by thinking of other parade music that I've heard of in the past. Fortunately, there's his son, Rufus and his welcoming tune. It sounds much better than his father's." she explained while shaking a small bottle of some alcoholic beverage that Rufus hasn't even heard of before. She poured its contents together with the other ingredients for Final Heaven.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" he asked, feeling somewhat perplexed on why a single person should like hearing his tune rather than his father's. "Well at least mine's better." He thought silently as he mindlessly turned his attention to the TV.

"_Tomorrow the reconstruction for Mako reactors and a new set of laws and policies will be regulated and put into action. This is according to the President, whom we were able to interview just this afternoon after his lunch with some of the most important people in society…"_

"Liar. Looks like Old Man found a way to control the media as well… Hmf…" he thought angrily to himself. He shook his head in annoyance before turning away from the TV and muttered, "Most important people in society? Bah. It's just the Don. Bloody hell…" he was interrupted when she spoke up, "What are your views about that issue?"

He was surprised by the question, but he still answered like it was no big deal… although his anger is clearly mirrored in his eyes. "Someone should assassinate President ShinRa so that his son would take over again. I think his son is much of a better ruler than him. Controlling the world with money… hmf." He flipped his hair.

"So you think that controlling the world with fear, as said by _President_ Rufus, is the best way of getting things done?" she asked before turning her head to the side, looking at his reaction from her peripheral vision. "Honestly, sir, the salutation _President_ is better combined with Rufus's name. Don't you think so?" she asked, meaning it as a compliment, and also as a means to see if it could trigger something further in him… like a positive reaction (i.e. a smile or his cheeks blushing… or just acting uncomfortably) which could prove to her further that this person is really Rufus ShinRa.

But Rufus still maintained his poker-faced expression. "Anyway, what Rufus had meant by controlling the world with fear is for the sake that people will be more disciplined and would follow orders from the council of leaders… especially the President." He told her.

"But if you were Rufus, would you do the same?" she asked.

"Definitely. Money can run out. Personality is forever. If he followed his father's footsteps, he'd get the same ugly results like what his father did… if he uses his own means, he'll achieve greater improvement in all aspects of society." He turned to the TV. "In my point of view, he never wanted to become like his Old Man…" he said softly.

Tifa bit her lower lip as she slowly bowed down her head.

Rufus just lowered his gaze to his hands before proceeding, "But if I were in Rufus's shoes and he'll become the President after his Old Man dies, I won't go into _desperate_ measures already of disciplining the citizens and wiping out all the threats in the society all in one blow. Of course, I'd like immediate results, but you can't really hurry everything around here, can you? Because if I did rush everything, I would end up getting messier results… probably much messier than his Old Man's… So I'll probably result to changing a few systems around here in Midgar and around the Planet first… like propose the discontinued use of Mako Reactors to distribute energy and power all throughout the Planet. I'm sure there are other planetary fuels around there that cannot do much harm to the Planet and to the people… and definitely, I'll be revising the constitution and make new laws that will benefit not only my business and my family but also the other people. The skies in Midgar will be much clearer than what we have right now…" he looked up at her, observing her long dark hair, since she had her back to him. "…and while _I'm_ Vice President, I'll make sure it starts happening now… but Old Man is stubborn so…" he trailed off when he realized what he had just said. He suddenly felt somewhat nervous as she slowly turned around to face him. She looked a little surprised; her crimson eyes staring wide-eyed at him.  She was holding a wine goblet with this red liquid that smelled somewhat fruity and it has some ice in it too. She approached him with a blank look on her face, and Rufus stared cautiously at her, though his facial expression remained as emotionless as ever.

Tifa placed the goblet before him and then she bent down and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the counter as she stared directly into his blue eyes. She smiled gently at him, "Your secret's safe with me, _President_ Rufus." She said softly.

He just stared at her for a few moments without saying anything before looking away from her, discontinuing the eye contact. He felt somewhat uncomfortable staring into other people's eyes, in fear that they might be able to see through his cold and selfish exterior and know that deep inside, he is a very sensitive person after all. With that, he took the goblet and sniffed it. It smelled so good that he had the immediate urge to drink it, but he only took around two sips before he got used to the taste and decided to drink up the rest. He stopped when he reached halfway and placed the goblet onto the table again. She was studying the look on his face and his reaction to the drink. "Slow down; it's too early to get drunk," she told him with a playful look on her face.

He frowned as he stared at the red liquid inside the goblet, "Are you sure this is strong stuff? It tastes sweet… almost fruity… like it's watermelon…" he described.

"_That_ is strong stuff. Believe me. Once you finish it, it's like you'll be in the highest of the highest heaven ever imagined." She told him.

"Oh really?" he asked, unconvinced.

"Yes." Was all she said with a slight smile on her face.

He put down the goblet on the counter and just shrugged. "I think I'd like to save the side effects for later… right now, I'm easy. Whether I'll get knocked-out after finishing this or not…" he leaned forward. "So, what is your name?"

"Tifa Lockheart." She told him, holding out a hand.

Rufus shook it. "As you had previously discovered… Rufus ShinRa," he said in a low tone.

The bartender, upon releasing his hand, smiled. "It's good to have you back, Mr. President."

Before Rufus could reply, he heard a beeping sound from his pocket. "Pardon me," he said, holding up a hand. He turned around and took out his phone. Tifa curiously looked over his shoulder, and saw that before he could get to the SMS, his phone flashed a "Battery Empty" and died. "Oh… bloody hell. Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing important," he muttered before turning back to Tifa.

"He's not replying, sir," Reno told Tseng, who was pressing buttons on his PHS.

Tseng cursed in Wutaian as the recorded, _The__ subscriber cannot be reached. Please try again, _played on his handset. "Of all times for his phone to die…" he muttered.

"What are we going to do, sir?" Elena asked, looking at her watch. "How long does President ShinRa intend to be here, anyway?"

"Well… we'll be here for quite some time…" Tseng said, biting his thumb. "Problem is, the President will want to see the girl along _with _Vice President Rufus… so even if we find him, we'll have trouble making things up again…"

The Turks fell silent, deep in thought.

Suddenly, Reno laughed. "Hey, Rude… ya got Tifa's number, right?"

Rude blushed, but weakly nodded in reply.

"Why don't we give her a call? So that when we find Rufus, President ShinRa will be convinced that his son really did _it._"

Elena gasped. "Reno! You can't just call a girl and tell her to act like a prostitute?!"

"Well, it's for the presidential kid, right? I'm sure she'd do it for ShinRa…" Reno said, shrugging.

"Tifa isn't that kind of woman," Rude told him in a defensive way.

Silence.

"Okay, you, you and you! Go to Seventh Heaven and talk to her. This is our plan…" Tseng began while eyeing Rude, Reno and Elena with a sly smile on his face.

            "I don't think I can finish this anymore, Tifa." Rufus muttered in a miserable manner as he shoved the goblet away from himself.

"Why not?" she asked, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Well… I might not be able to return to the Honeybee Inn. I think I have to return there before Old Man finds out that I just went off. The Turks can't ward him off forever off my arse. I've explained it to you earlier about the marrying thing, right?" He replied.

She chuckled lightly, "I see… well then," she took the goblet and downed the remaining contents in almost one gulp.

Rufus looked at her weirdly. "I see… you must have a high tolerance for alcohol…"

"(Hic) I should, I work with it," she answered.

Rufus frowned. "Oh no… you're completely arseholed, aren't you?" (AN: _arseholed_ is a British term for "drunk")

She giggled. "No. I was just playing with you…" She looked up when she heard the doors open. "Oh, welcome back Vincent! And…?" she trailed off when she saw who he was with.

Rufus smiled slightly upon seeing them. "Well, well, well… Vincent and Sephiroth… How pleasant of you to join us." He told them as he got up and then shook hands with them, surprising Tifa with that kind of gesture that he has made in front of her.

"Hey, Rufus," Sephiroth greeted as he slapped his friend's back.

"Ow! Bloody hell…" Rufus reacted in annoyance.

Sephiroth just laughed. "Mwahahahaha! So, I thought you're in ShinRa again, but what are you doing in this place?" he asked before turning to Tifa and smiled slyly at her, "Hmm… flirting with the lady, eh?" he asked.

"It's not what you think, Sephiroth," Rufus muttered with a stiff look on his face as he flipped his hair.

"I almost did not recognize that you are Rufus ShinRa because of your hair." Vincent told him while staring at his hair.

Rufus just flipped his hair. "Well, it's necessary to style it this way if I'm running away from Old Man for a while. I thought of coming over here because I knew I'd find you blokes here."

"How perceptive of you…" Vincent muttered as he sat down. "Tifa, a cup of tea, please…"

"And crumpets. Mwaahahah!" Sephiroth said, poking Vincent at the ribs.

The man frowned. "Are you _mocking _me?"

"Yeah. You're almost addicted to tea and crumpets. I don't see what's so tasty about 'em…" he answered.

"Here's your tea! And some honey, since you're cutting down on your sugar!" Tifa said, serving Vincent tea.

"You're skinny and you're dieting?!" Rufus asked in disbelief.

Rufus surveyed Vincent's frame as he eyed him from head to toe, "Indeed… I could've sworn that you're even _sexier_ than Tifa here." He joked with a serious look on his face.

Vincent breathed in deeply, forcing himself not to be annoyed and just sipped his tea.

"Mwahaha! If you keep that up, you might get sexier than my mommy!" Sephiroth added, chortling. Tifa giggled.

He slammed his cup on the table. "Stop this foolishness this instant. Let's just discuss our plans calmly and _seriously, _as gentlemen would…"

"Gentlemen?" Rufus asked with a look of curiosity on his face. It was pretty obvious to Vincent that he was making fun of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Sephiroth corrected.

Silence.

"For one second, I thought you were mocking me. My sincerest apologies…" Vincent began, but Sephiroth snickered, "Hey, I said _ladies_; not _lady_."

Silence.

"Bloody brilliant!" Vincent said sarcastically.

"Alright, alright… let's just get this over with before other people start coming in here." Tifa told them as she sat down on the counter.

"What are your plans?" Sephiroth asked, turning to Rufus as he sat down on one of the stools.

Rufus walked over to the door. "First of all, Old Man should…" he flipped the door sign to "Closed". "…die. If you think that's violent, then exiled." He told them.

Tifa got off from the counter and walked over to the door. "I think _exiled_…" she flipped the door sign to "Open". "…is the right thing to do." She told him.

Rufus just stared at her. He flipped the door sign again. "How do we go about exiling Old Man?"

"Tie him up, tar and feather him and ship him off to Wutai?" Sephiroth asked.

Tifa flipped the sign again to "Open". "No, Bone Village would be more appropriate for a person like him." She said.

"But Old Man isn't the only one that we should get rid of," Rufus said as he flipped the sign again.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him, but before she could protest to his behavior towards the door sign, Sephiroth chimed in, "Oh yes. There's the Don and… Hojo."

Vincent twitched slightly upon hearing the last name to be mentioned. He took a sip of tea and then put down the cup. "Count me in when you're off to getting rid of Hojo." He told them.

Tifa flipped the door sign once again. "Why the bloody hell did President ShinRa, the Don and Hojo had to come back with you guys again when you were revived?" she asked.

"We don't know." Rufus replied as he flipped the door sign again.

"Will you stop flipping that?" she protested as she flipped the door sign once more.

Rufus just stared blankly at her before flipping it again.

"Oh I give up," Tifa just crossed her arms. "Who were those with you when you got revived?" she asked.

Rufus flipped his hair, "Myself, Sephiroth, Aerith, Tseng, Old Man, Lucrecia, Hojo and Don Corneo… also Palmer, Heidegger and Scarlet." He replied.

"Just those?" Vincent asked.

"That's what I know." Rufus said.

Silence.

Sephiroth started snickering, "Actually, there's another one…" he told them. All eyes turned to him before he proceeded. "…but it's not important anymore. The important thing is, I _got rid of him_. Mwahahahahahahaha." He told them.

Silence.

"Anyway, back to business," Rufus walked back to one of the stools and sat down. "But I think Old Man is easy to get rid of… if I can get his arse-kissing executives on my side." He told them.

"How?" Sephiroth asked.

Rufus sighed. "I don't know." He replied.

Silence.

"Brilliant." Vincent muttered.

"Splendid, Rufus, just splendid." Tifa said.

"But since we still cannot think of a little plan to get the executives to go on my side, we'll just think of ways to prevent Old Man's plans from being successful." Rufus said.

"And what are those plans?" Vincent asked.

"First of all, to find a suitable wife for me… but that's not important right now… so we'll go to the second: Rebuilding of Mako Reactors. Third is to expand the business. Fourth is to hire more SOLDIER members… Fifth is to make Don Corneo his business associate. Sixth is to finance all of Hojo's projects. Seventh is to make Sectors 1 and 2 the most beautiful ones in Midgar… and leave out all the other lower sectors, especially this one." Rufus said.

They were all silent for a few moments before Sephiroth pointed out, "Can I just kill him? You know, I can hear my Masamune talking to me and saying _'hey Seph! Feed me! I'm craving for fat men's blood! Hee hee!'"_ he said, imitating a squeaky voice.

Tifa laughed at his imitation.

Vincent and Rufus just raised an eyebrow at him.

"You are still weak. You're not as strong as before. If you ask me, I still feel a little shaken." Rufus told him.

Sephiroth felt a little dismayed. "You're right… and I think it will take us around two years before we could recover from this…" he mumbled.

Tifa thought for a while before finally saying, "Maybe me and the other AVALANCHE members can help."

Rufus and Sephiroth turned to her. "That would be greatly appreciated, Tifa." The former said with a serious look on his face.

"Hey, AVALANCHE has always been anti-ShinRa… but in this case, anti-President ShinRa." She said with a wink.

Vincent nodded. "Tifa and I will talk to Barret about this, you need not worry, Rufus." He reassured.

Rufus just nodded in reply before glancing at his watch. "Blimey, I have to go." He said before reaching for his wallet and pulled out 1000 Gil. "Keep the change." He told her simply before waving goodbye to Sephiroth and Vincent.

Tifa watched him as he exited and walked away from her bar, feeling somewhat stunned.

Sephiroth nudged Vincent with a silly smile on his face. Vincent wondered why.

With that, Tifa sighed heavily and bowed down her head. "I forgot to thank him." She said softly.

"What did you serve him anyway and he's paying you?" Vincent asked.

Sephiroth laughed at her, "I know what you _did_! Mwahahaha!"

POW!

….moments later, Vincent was nursing Sephiroth's black eye while Tifa was cleaning some glasses. Sephiroth growled at her, "I was gonna say that you served him a drink, Teef. So you're the green-minded one!"

Tifa stopped wiping a goblet with the washcloth that she was holding.

Vincent smiled weakly at her before turning to Sephiroth, "Uhm… stop it. Glass shards against your skin won't be too easy to take care of," he warned.

Tifa just proceeded to clean the goblet.

The door suddenly burst open and she just mindlessly said, "Pleasant evening." Without even looking at who those people are. Sephiroth and Vincent remembered that Rufus flipped the sign to "Closed" earlier, and Tifa was not even able to flip it back to "Open". What if those are goonies?

They turned to look at the newcomers, and then were surprised to find out that those were three of the Turks: Elena, Rude and Reno.

"…Turks?" Vincent asked.

Tifa looked up at her 'customers'. "Er… are you here for drinks?"

"Eh… not exactly…" Elena said, scratching her head as she was unsure of how to explain the situation to her. _It's hard enough to make her cooperate, but dammit!... Does Sephiroth and that Valentine guy have to be here?! _

"We have a favor to ask of you, Miss Lockheart," Reno said.

Tifa frowned. "What is it? Is it some Turk assignment you're asking help for?"

"Er… well… yes and no." Elena said.

"Hold on a moment, aren't you supposed to be guarding the Honeybee Inn since the President is there?" Tifa asked.

"How did you know---?!" Reno and Elena both exclaimed in unison.

"Your boss was here and he and Miss Lockheart…" Sephiroth just trailed off when Tifa waved her fist at him. He just snickered.

"Oh cool! You interacted!" Reno said happily.

"This will make it a lot easier!" Elena said, jumping up and down before rushing to Tifa. "You see President ShinRa wants Sir Rufus to find the girl of his dreams in the Honeybee Inn with the help of Don Corneo who made a deal with President ShinRa that he'll give one of his girls to Rufus so that Rufus will finally have his mind made up instead of him having a birthday party on the twenty-third of December and it's gonna be like a Cinderella party wherein all the young ladies of Midgar are invited so that Rufus can choose a bride for himself for his future but you know I don't really see the point of that but anyway, President ShinRa asked us where Rufus is and since Rufus is out here somewhere and not at the Honeybee Inn, Boss Tseng and the rest of us Turks just devised a plan wherein we switched on the TV in the #$% Room since the Don had that #$% Room reserved for Rufus and so the TV station's in the porn station and then have an imaginary girl invented but Rude made a booboo and now we have to find a girl with the same name as the one he mentioned and so Boss Tseng's left in the Honeybee Inn while we're out here looking for you because you're the girl that Rude had mentioned to President ShinRa and he said that you're the one inside the #$% Room with Sir Rufus doing some honky-honkies with him! Heeheeheehee!" Elena giggled.

Silence.

"I only understood the last part." Sephiroth said with a naughty smile on his face.

"Could you translate that for us?" Vincent asked, turning to Reno and Rude.

"Elena, you really talk too much." Reno muttered to her as he slapped her butt and laughed victoriously. "Okay… to make the long story short, we kinda told President ShinRa that Rufus's girlfriend goes by the name of Tifa." He told them.

Silence.

Elena pulled his hair, his yelp in pain breaking the silence.

Tifa stared unbelievably at the Turks.

Sephiroth laughed.

"But don't worry, the Tifa that we mentioned is the Daughter of the ambassador from Gongaga." Rude said weakly.

"But Gongaga doesn't have an ambassador and the name is not from Gongaga!" Sephiroth pointed out.

"You're not helping, Sephiroth," Tifa growled.

"Mwahahahahaha!" he laughed.

"And so we just decided to ask for your help… like pretend to be Rufus's girlfriend? We'll really be in trouble if President ShinRa finds out about it." Elena explained.

"Yeah… and Rufus will definitely be in deep shit too if his Old Man finds out about this." Reno said.

"So, what do you say? Are you willing to help us?" Elena asked.

Tifa stared unbelievably at them. "No!" she replied before walking out of the bar.

The whole room was silent for several moments.

"What now?" Rude asked.

"We kidnap her." Reno said with a mean smile on his face.

"Oh no, you don't!" Sephiroth said.

"What do you want us to do, disguise Mr. Valentine over here as Tifa, daughter of the ambassador of Gongaga?" Reno countered sarcastically.

"You know, that's not a bad idea…"

Vincent snarled. "Now's not the time to spout such nonsense."

Sephiroth just laughed at him.

"Well then what?" Elena asked, feeling panicky all of a sudden as she sat down on one of the stools. "We have to convince her somehow!" she continued.

"Why not just pick up a random girl out in the streets?" Sephiroth suggested.

"Rufus would definitely despise that." Vincent pointed out.

Silence.

"Then how?" Reno asked.

            Rufus finally returned to the Honeybee Inn, just in time when President ShinRa arrived.

"Oh, hello, son!" President ShinRa greeted with a pleased smile on his face.

Rufus just ignored him.

"Heard you've already made up your mind, huh? Why didn't you tell me that you're seeing someone already?" he asked.

Rufus raised his eyebrows at his father before turning to Tseng. Tseng smiled uncomfortably at him. Rufus eyed him like, "What the bloody hell did you tell Old Man?!" before saying out loud to President ShinRa, "I'm exhausted. I'd like to go home now," and turned to Tseng. "We need to talk," he said before proceeding outside.

President ShinRa urged Tseng to follow. "I'll just pay the bills, the two of you go ahead to the limo." He instructed.

Rufus stepped outside with Tseng. As soon as they reached the limo, Rufus bellowed, "What the bloody hell did you just do?! And where are the other Turks?"

Tseng swallowed hard. "Erm… they're looking for your girlfriend, sir… eheh…" he said weakly.

"What bloody girlfriend are you talking about?" he demanded.

Tseng felt like shrinking as he explained to Rufus; and while he was explaining, Rufus also felt like the whole world just ended up on his shoulders. "You just made things worse!" Rufus snapped in annoyance before turning away. Anger and worry could be seen in his face while his back was turned against Tseng, but when he decided to face him again, he returned to his normal poker-faced expression. "Listen you…" he began, but was interrupted when President ShinRa arrived. "So, sonny boy! Where's that girlfriend of yours?" he asked.

Rufus shot dagger looks at Tseng before answering to his father, "She left. She had to go home." He lied.

Tseng felt somewhat relieved. "I thought he wouldn't play along! Thank goodness he's a good actor!" he thought silently. "Yes, your Excellency! That's why the other Turks are not here because they escorted her back to her house." He told the President with a slight smile on his face.

"I see… but I'd like to meet the girl!" President ShinRa said.

"Too bad, you can't." Rufus said with a sarcastic smile on his face before he got inside the limo, followed by President ShinRa who told him, "The two of you are going strong?"

"Stronger than ever, daddy." Rufus muttered with sarcasm.

As the car began to move, President ShinRa proposed a plan, "I know what… I'll still throw a big masquerade ball on the 23rd for you… and we'll also announce to the world that you and your girlfriend are already engaged! Isn't that wonderful, sonny boy?! Har har har har har har har!"

Rufus felt his heart sink as he stared warningly at Tseng who was seated facing him beside President ShinRa. Tseng just smiled sheepishly and laughed lightly, "Eheh…" and cleared his throat before deciding to just look outside the window.

"I would like to protest against that plan of yours, daddy," Rufus began, but President ShinRa's laughter turned into a vicious and angry growl, "NO! I am your father and I will do as I please! I want to meet your future wife, you hear?!" and then his facial expression softened again. "The Turks mentioned that you've been together with her ever since after I got assassinated by that Sephiroth, is that true?" he asked.

Rufus did not answer, but President ShinRa took it as a "yes" and laughed joyfully again. "Where did you meet her?"

"Oh you wouldn't wanna know," Rufus muttered glumly as he looked outside the window.

"Come on, I want to know!" President ShinRa urged. But Rufus did not answer anymore. President ShinRa cleared his throat and frowned at him, "Well then, who are her parents?" he asked.

Rufus still refused to answer. With that, President ShinRa just shrugged and looked away from him, "Fine. If you don't want to cooperate with me, I'll just have her tracked down." He declared.

Rufus's eyes widened upon hearing that, but thought twice upon reacting. "Oh never mind… there's no Tifa from Gongaga as far as I'm concerned… he'll end up searching for nothing." He was thinking quietly before President ShinRa spoke up again, "On the 23rd, I want her to be there."

It triggered something in Rufus. "Perfect," he thought with a secret smile on his face.


	5. Introducing the Enemies!

They Live!

Chapter Five: Introducing… The Enemies!

_Professor Hojo_

            "I would like to introduce to you the latest of my developments! Upon request by our dear President, I've decided to finally complete the experiment, therefore, came up with my ultimate potion…" Hojo pulled out a small test tube from his lab coat, revealing to them some green liquid inside.

Rufus stared at the liquid for a few moments before turning back to his laptop. It was another boring meeting with his Old Man and the executives. Unfortunately, since he is the Vice President, he had to be there.

President ShinRa smiled slyly. "Is that what I think it is, Professor Hojo?" he asked.

Hojo nodded. "Yes, President ShinRa, sir. It's the Black Death." He explained.

"What's so black about that? It's green?" Rufus asked airily.

Hojo and President ShinRa eyed him annoyingly before the former proceeded, "If you open it, black smoke will come out… and it can kill hundreds of people… including small organisms like insects and small animals."

"Hundreds only? Why not make it millions?" Scarlet asked with an airy tone.

"Can you open it now?" Rufus asked with a challenging tone and a sly smile on his face.

"Stop it, Rufus." President ShinRa snapped impatiently before turning back to Hojo. "Very good, Hojo. We'll be using that in a matter of time… maybe by January…" he began, but Hojo shook his head. "This is only a prototype. But the formula is with me. Since all the other Sectors are big, we'll need more… isn't that right, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, we do. And how long will it take you to complete more of those?" President ShinRa asked.

"Around two years." Hojo replied.

President ShinRa looked somewhat dismayed upon hearing that, "How come?" he asked.

"The fusion of the poisonous fluids and gasses could take around two years to fully combine with Mako." Hojo explained with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Mako?" Heidegger asked.

Hojo nodded as he eyed the test tube that he was holding. "The Planet has an abundant supply… so why not make use of it?" he asked with a sly smile on his face.

President ShinRa clapped his hands. "Very well, Professor Hojo. I'll be expecting results in 2 years." He said.

Rufus frowned as he flipped his hair before raising up his pen to call Hojo's attention, "Professor," he called out.

Hojo turned to him. "Yes, Sir Rufus?" he asked.

"What exactly are you going to do with those?" Rufus asked with a serious look on his face before turning to his father, "Is there something I am not aware of?" he continued.

President ShinRa smiled slyly at his son, "Well, Rufus… I'm glad you asked. And since Hojo showed the Black Death to us in this session, I guess the secret's out." He got up and cleared his throat. "The people from the lower Sectors cannot contribute to the development of Midgar, ergo, they must be taken care of…" he eyed everyone before saying, "…they are the scum of this Planet. We don't need them here, so we'll get rid of them."

Rufus maintained his composure but he shrugged, "So you mean to say that you are going to kill them?"

"Exactly." President ShinRa said.

"Which Sectors, specifically?" Rufus asked, wanting more details to be elaborated.

"Sectors 5, 6 and 7… the slums." President ShinRa replied with a cold look on his face.

"Sector 5? But isn't that the Wall Market where most economic activity of this City take place?" Reeve asked.

"The Wall Market will be moved to a better sector. The rest of Sector 5 will be wiped out." President ShinRa explained.

Rufus just stared blankly at his father before turning back to his laptop, but his left hand was already holding his mobile phone and sending a text message to Tseng saying, "Go to Sephiroth. Inquire about AVALANCHE helping. Discuss 23rd."

After he sent the text message, President ShinRa finally adjourned the meeting. While on their way out, Hojo approached Rufus. "Sir Rufus, your father said that I should approach you for financial aid." He said.

"How much do you need?" Rufus asked mindlessly.

"Five hundred million Gil." Hojo replied.

"Five hundred million Gil for small test tubes and poisonous gasses? Can't you just use your fart?" Rufus asked mockingly with an impatient look on his face.

Hojo frowned upon hearing that, "The fund is not only for the Black Death. It is also for the upgrading of the Laboratory Equipment and… for more developments for…" he got cut off by Rufus who just snapped at him, "No." and walked away.

"Can't you just write a check, sir?" Hojo asked.

Rufus just ignored him and proceeded to the elevators. Hojo went after him. "You don't really trust my works, huh?" he asked.

Rufus stopped walking and turned to face him again, "Like what I said, you are such a second-rate scientist. If I could have the authority to replace you, I will."

"And who would you choose to replace me?" Hojo asked with a mocking smile on his face.

"Who else but Lucrecia?" Rufus asked before turning away and waited for the elevator door to open. "I never liked you to begin with. You're always the stupidest person I know. I wonder why Old Man funds your experiments and projects… while I don't see the point in creating monsters for an army of SOLDIER." He muttered. "And be thankful that I'm not a snitch to tell Old Man that you fail to show respect to me even while we were dead." He said arrogantly as the elevator door opened. He stepped inside and turned to face Hojo again with a sly smile on his face. "If you need money, why don't you just _steal_ it from Old Man like what you've always done before?" he asked before the door closed.

Hojo was surprised. How did Rufus find out that he's one of the corrupt officials?

_Don Corneo_

            Yuffie had awoken to the sound of loud hammering and drilling… like there was a house being constructed just beside the Kisaragi Residence. Annoyed, she instantly got up and went over to the window, gazing out with an angry look on her face. "What's going on in here?!" she demanded impatiently.

Her door opened and there was her father, Lord Godo. "Yuffie," he began.

She instantly turned to her father with an annoyed look on her face, "Dad, what is going on in here?" she demanded.

Lord Godo had this miserable look on his face as he answered, "A new mansion's gonna be built there… and it belongs to the Don."

Yuffie froze. "The what?" she asked, wanting to be sure.

"The Don." He repeated.

She laughed slightly, not wanting to believe what her father had just mentioned, "You don't mean Don Corneo, right? Coz I think the old geezer's dead and…"

"Unfortunately, he is alive… for a reason even I cannot comprehend." Lord Godo replied.

Yuffie felt so weak all of a sudden. "Can I… skip training today?" she asked.

"Don't worry, my dear, since your bodyguard is still ill and I can't risk letting you out of the house with that old fart around." He told her reassuringly.

"Oh thank you daddy!" she said, jumping up and down before heading over to Zack's room. "Hey, Zack!" she greeted.

He responded with a moan.

She froze. "Oh… sorry." She said, realizing that he was still too weak and pretty messed-up. His legs are bandaged and it seemed to her that he will not be able to stand up for a week or so. She smiled weakly as she approached him with caution. He just glared sleepily at her as she spoke up, "Look, I'm sorry for what happened yesterday…"

Zack was too much in pain to reply properly. And worse, the banging construction noise next door was echoing in his skull… _painfully _echoing in his poor, injured, probably-dented skull. "Y… eh, eh, sure… whuzzat outside… banging?" he asked the ninja girl weakly.

Yuffie frowned. "Oh… that's just a DOM building a mansion next door. Hmf!"

"DOM?"

"Dirty old man. You know that Don Corneo? That old pimp-slash-maniac-slash-pedophile from Midgar? Grrr… thinking about him… and the fact that I was almost a victim… I wanna kill SOMETHING! AAAAAAH!!!" she started shrieking for some reason. Zack cringed. His dented skull pounded in pain. "Why don't you attack him now?" he asked.

"I don't know whether he's already there or…" Yuffie trailed off when she heard her father yelling, "You stay away from my property! How dare you… coming in here like we're in good terms?! I will never ever forget what you did to my daughter!!!"

And then followed by a "Hyuk hyuk hyuk! Yeowza! I'm just trying to be friends with you and I'm sorry if I… whehey! Is that her latest picture? Wow, she's so beautiful!"

Lord Godo yelled again, "Don't touch that! That's my late wife's picture when she was 18!"

Yuffie cringed. "Oh no… the Old Geezer is here!" she said in fear before heading over to Zack and hid under his blanket, surprising him. "AARGH! What are you doing?!" Zack exclaimed.

"GAWDS! What's it to you? I'm trying to hide!!!" she snapped at him.

"Why can't you hide in the closet like a normal person?!"

"There are roaches there! If I screech, there's a greater chance that they'd find me!" she reasoned.

They heard footsteps and Don Corneo saying, "I can smell her here!"

"Oh no you don't!" they heard Lord Godo say.

"OH MY GAWD!!!!!" Zack and Yuffie both cried out in unison before hiding under the covers.

They heard the door open and there was Lord Godo and Don Corneo… staring at them. Lord Godo became furious. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?!" he yelled angrily.

Don Corneo stared slack-jawed at the two.

Zack and Yuffie realized that hiding under the same covers together really triggered some bad thoughts on other people. Zack wanted to pass out but he still said, "No…let me explain… I…"

"Whehehey! Is this a live show?" Don Corneo asked.

"You pervert! Stay away from me!!!" Yuffie shrieked as she got up and threw shuriken blades at him.

The Don quickly dodged, but he became worried. "Whooo… that was close…" he said.

Lord Godo was trying to calm himself down, but he still felt smoke coming out of his ears. "Zack… explain…" he muttered scarily.

Zack gulped. "W-ell… uh… you see… er…" he began, but was distracted when Yuffie spoke up, "Dad, I got scared of cockroaches so I hid under his blanket in hopes that he'd protect me because you know, he's my bodyguard! Heehee!"

Silence.

"Okay." Lord Godo said plainly before turning back to the Don. "As for you…" he began with an angry tone.

Don Corneo just ran off. "Hey, come back here!" Lord Godo ran after him.

"Bye! See ya later, chickie-pie!" Don Corneo yelled back at Yuffie.

Lord Godo stopped running. He could not believe what had just happened. "Blasted Old Geezer!" he marched back to Zack's room. "You!" he said, referring to Zack.

"Yes, sir?" Zack asked weakly.

"You really have to do your job well on protecting and training my daughter, do you understand?" he asked.

Zack nodded. "Y…yes, sir. I'll double my efforts, sir." He said with a weak smile on his face.

"What for?" Yuffie asked stubbornly as she crossed her arms.

"THAT OLD GEEZER FOUND OUT ABOUT WUTAI'S MONEY PROBLEMS AND OFFERED HIS HELP IN EXCHANGE FOR YOU!!!" Lord Godo cried out in total impatience.

Silence.

"Grossness!" Yuffie reacted.

Zack felt so mortified. "And you let Yuffie get engaged to that man?!" he exclaimed.

"Of course not! But if matters comes to worse, he might really do something bad! I don't know what he saw in my daughter but… but… GAWDS! Of all women that he'll desire, why my one and only little Yuffie-poo!?!???!!??" Lord Godo began to cry.

Yuffie wanted to faint. "Why… me?!"

"All he said is that you were… saucy." Godo answered, still appalled.

Silence.

"Aren't you proud, at least it means that you're attractive, Yuffie," Zack complimented.

The Kisaragis glared at him. "You're not helping," they said in unison.

He shrank. "Sorry…"

"What can we do for the meantime, Daddy?" Yuffie asked, turning back to her father.

Lord Godo sighed. "The best I can do is to ask our guards to do their job well." He said.

"Why can't we just murder that ape?" Zack asked.

"We can't murder that ape! He is friends with President ShinRa…and if something bad happens to him, we'll definitely lose our heads. Besides, if ever that happens, what will the other nations think of Wutai? They'll think that we're a nation of murderers!" Lord Godo explained.

"President ShinRa?! You mean that other old ape is alive?" Yuffie asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Lord Godo said simply.

Silence.

"Okay, who else came back from the dead?" Yuffie asked.

"ShinRa's back… and President ShinRa's son is back too… also Heidegger, Palmer…" Lord Godo began to cite the names, but she cut him off, "Okay, okay… never mind. I don't wanna hear it anymore…" she said with a pout before stomping her way to the window. "It means that trouble will arise again… and I won't be there to help Cloud and…"

Zack's face lit up. "Did you say Cloud?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Yuffie asked miserably before turning to her father, "Can't I return to Midgar? I think I'd be safer there with… with Cloud and Tifa and Barret and…"

"Did you say Tifa?" Zack asked in awe.

"Will you stop interrupting me?" Yuffie snapped at him.

"But… but… I know those guys!" Zack said in amazement.

"No you don't. Anyways, Daddy, can't I go back to Midgar? If the DOM decides to follow me there, I'll have more people to protect me!" Yuffie said, giving Zack an annoyed look.

Before Lord Godo could answer, Zack said, "Yeah I know those guys! Cloud Strife was one of my buddies back at SOLDIER! And Tifa… she was that girl at Nibelheim!"

Yuffie stared unbelievably at him. "GAWDS!!! So you do know them!" she said.

"Yeah!" Zack replied happily.

Lord Godo shook his head. "No can do, Yuffie." He said before leaving the room.

Yuffie slouched. "RATS!" she snapped angrily before she sat down on the floor facing Zack. He just stared at her, "So… how is Cloud?" he asked.

"I don't know about that spiky-headed jerk… probably alright? The last time I've seen him he's going to that Church in Sector 6 again. He likes going there, y'know… maybe because he hopes that he can see Aerith again." she said.

Zack's eyes widened. "Wh…what? Aer… Aerith?" he asked in awe.

"Yeah. Aerith. I think he really got it bad for her. Y'know when she died, I can see it in his eyes that he's really going to cry once he's alone… but he didn't. He kept it all to himself… so it was really hard for him. And when he buried her in the lake, oh gawds, that's the saddest part!!! Even Tifa cried that day!" Yuffie sniffed. "And when I think about it right now, it still makes me cry! sniff" she said with a weak smile on her face as she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"But… Aerith was… my girlfriend…" he said.

Yuffie froze. "What?" she asked.

"Yeah!" he said.

Silence.

"… How was she your girlfriend?"

"… Before I became a SOLDIER. She was my girlfriend. And Cloud was… What the hell happened when I died, anyway?!" he asked in frustration.

Yuffie's jaw dropped. "You DIED?!" And she remembered the full moon spell that the elders had performed. She felt weak all of a sudden. "So… you're one of those that came back from the dead…" she said softly before her eyes widened and she pointed an accusing finger at him as she moved away from him until her back hit the wall, "MY BODYGUARD'S A ZOMBIE??!!! EWWW! GROSSNESS!!!!!" she shrieked.

"N…no! Let me explain… I… I died because of Sephiroth… but due to some circumstances that I wasn't even able to understand, I got back here… and I'm alive! But… I never realized that… maybe President ShinRa also returned from the dead when I did…" he said in confusion.

"I guess it's the spell that our elders cast one full moon night. They thought it didn't work but… here you are! Eheh…" she laughed weakly as she stared at him, studying his current state. He seemed so alive and he doesn't look like a Zombie…

Zack struggled to sit up, "Please… explain to me… what… happened? Cloud and Aerith?" he asked.

Yuffie did not know how and where to begin. She just shook her head in confusion. "I'm not the right person to ask about that."

            "You know, I don't really get the idea…" Sephiroth began.

"But you need to help us!" Tseng insisted.

"What if we don't want to?" Cloud asked with a threatening look on his face, knowing that Tseng has a crush on Aerith and he wouldn't let that Wutaian near his Aerith that's why he just told her to stay upstairs with Marlene.

Tseng, Rude, Elena and Reno exchanged weak smiles with one another. "Erhm… Please, Mister Strife? This is a good chance for you AVALANCHE dudes to infiltrate ShinRa during the masquerade ball! While Miss Lockheart can keep things busy in the ballroom, the rest of you can go around the building. We'll just disable all security cameras for you!" Reno pointed out.

Barret, Cloud, Vincent, Lucrecia, Tifa and Sephiroth exchanged blank stares with one another. "But you mentioned that President ShinRa would also like to meet Tifa's parents?" Lucrecia asked.

Silence.

"We'll find a way…" Elena began, but Barret suddenly had an idea. "I know! To make things easier… um… Lucrecia," he began.

Lucrecia turned to him with a surprised look on her face, "No way! Hojo might recognize me!" she protested.

"Mwahahahaha! Vincent can play Tifa's mommy!" Sephiroth suggested.

Silence.

"Bloody hell?! Why me?" Vincent exclaimed in shock.

Tifa stared at Vincent. "Hmm… you look nothing like my real mother… but… you have the perfect skin…even more perfect than any other woman's… and you have the perfect long ebony hair! My mom had black hair, I can remember…" she said softly.

"So you're suggesting that I wear an effing dress to that masquerade ball? What about this claw?" Vincent asked, showing to them his left arm.

"Oh that's easy. Your escort… or Tifa's daddy, will hold you by that arm all the time. And besides, you'll be wearing a mask." Barret pointed out.

"Oh me! Me! I can do your make up!" Elena said excitedly.

Vincent wanted to shrink. "Why me?! Why not Aerith??!!" he reacted in shame.

"You think I'll allow Aerith to do that? Besides she looks too young." Cloud said.

"And the others might recognize her and so the President might tell us to capture her again." Tseng said.

"Okay then… who will be my escort?" Vincent asked.

Silence.

"Not me. I'll assist in the infiltration." Barret said.

"He should be tall…" Reno said before eyeing Cloud's height, then turned to Sephiroth with a mean smile on his face. The rest of the Turks eyed Sephiroth with interested stares.

Sephiroth just raised an eyebrow at them, "Well as long as I won't play the 'mommy' part, it's alright with me…" he turned to Vincent with a determined smile on his face, "I'll be your escort, Vinny." He said with a wink.

Lucrecia frowned slightly before clearing her throat, "Ahem… I think I would like to assist in the infiltration, if you guys don't mind." She presented with a slight smile on her face. All eyes turned to her before she continued, "In ShinRa gatherings, everyone's in the ballroom including the executives, but they leave cameras rolling in their offices… most especially the laboratory. If you want to cause a big black out or check out the files, we can easily access them in Hojo's laboratory. I know the password in his computer." She presented with a proud look on her face.

"Oh that's great!" Barret cheered victoriously.

"Gah… just be careful. We'll be disconnecting all the security cams but I don't think it would help much because Soldiers are still roaming around." Tseng warned.

Vincent was beginning to feel uncomfortable, "Why can't Cloud and Aerith just be Tifa's parents?" he asked.

"Because they look too young." Elena pointed out.

"With a little make-up, they could look more mature!" Vincent protested.

"End of discussion!" Reno said, clapping his hands in adjournment. Tifa smiled sweetly at Vincent, "Don't worry, _mummy_, it's going to be one bloody hell of a good time! Heeheeheehee!" she teased.

Vincent just turned to Lucrecia with an agonizing look on his face. She just smiled calmly at him. "Don't worry, Vinny. I won't let Hojo catch you." She said sweetly.

Tifa sighed heavily. "And what about me? What will I do?" she asked.

"You'll act like Tifa, the daughter of the ambassador of Gongaga… and the girl who… erm… accompanied the Prez—er, Rufus in the HoneyBee Inn," Reno explained with a malicious grin. "If you know what I mean…"

She frowned in response. "Is there something that I don't know?!"

The two other Turks nodded meekly. Elena bit her lower lip nervously as she fumbled for the words to say. "Er… we kind of made it look like that you and Vice President Rufus… uhm… did it, and President ShinRa thought he heard it, so…"

"… I'm not even gonna ask," Cloud remarked, trying to keep a straight face. Barret can't help but laugh out loud.

Tifa, on the other hand, tried to keep her calm… in vain. "What?! How?! And why me?! Why not… why not…"

"It was an accident!!!" Elena yelped helplessly when she saw Tifa's eyes flare dangerously.

"Does Gongaga even _have _an ambassador?" Cloud asked.

"You should ask Zack that. He used to live there, right? Heheh," Sephiroth replied.

At the mention of the name, Cloud felt somewhat enraged… for a reason that he himself could not even understand. Instantly, he just stomped his foot. The others jerked in surprise when he did that.

"What?" Sephiroth asked, turning to him.

 Cloud swallowed the lump in his throat before glaring at him, "N…nothing… but… by any chance, did that guy come back with you?" he asked, forcing a smile.

Sephiroth wondered at first why Cloud was acting like that, but upon thinking about all the others who were revived with him and then thought about Aerith, he finally realized why. He just shrugged. "What if I say yes?" he asked.

Cloud felt his heart sink.

Sephiroth laughed, "Mwahahahaha! We'll talk later." He told him before turning to Tifa, "So, _daughter dear_, what are your other plans?" he asked.

"I have no idea. First of all, it's a masquerade ball. Second, I have absolutely nothing to wear… third, you and Vincent have nothing to wear too. Fourth, I'm worried about getting caught." Tifa said with an impatient tone.

"Oh, regarding your clothes, it's gonna be taken care of by Rufus." Tseng assured with a kind smile on his face.

"I just hope he picks out the right size…" Tifa muttered.

"That's why we need to get your measurements." Elena said happily.

Silence.

"Vincent is a 34-25-32." Sephiroth pointed out.

"Hey--! How did you…" Vincent began.

"It's one of my specialties; I can determine your measurements just by looking at you," Sephiroth said before turning to Tifa. Tifa frowned at him, "I'm so disappointed… Vincent's waist is smaller than mine!!!" she snapped.

"And mine too!" Lucrecia said in surprise.

Sephiroth snickered, "And you, Miss Lockheart, I could tell that you're a ..." He began, but Tifa cut him off when she just stood up and raised her hands, "Alright, that's enough! I'm going upstairs to check on Aerith, 'ayt? I'll just see you guys later!" she said with a loud voice dominating that of Sephiroth's as she headed for the stairs and went up.

"I was only joking," Sephiroth muttered with a silly smile on his face as he turned to his mother who was looking shamefully at him.

"Okay, so we'll just see you on the 23rd." Tseng said before recapping his pen and then returning his small notepad inside the left breast pocket of his blazer. "Rufus will be sending a limo for you here… but we'll make sure that we're the ones who will pick you up instead of the other SOLDIER members so that you won't get busted." He assured them before he got up. "Your gowns and suits will be delivered tomorrow evening… maybe I'll just ask Elena to drop by here. Rufus might go shopping this afternoon once we return." He continued.

"Oh yeah, don't forget your presents. Heh heh." Reno told them with a wink.

"Presents?" Cloud asked.

"It's a birthday masquerade party!" Reno reminded him before he led the way to the door and opened it for Tseng and his other comrades.

Sephiroth snickered, "I think I'd like to go shopping now for Rufus's gift." He told them.

            From upstairs, when Tifa arrived upstairs, she was surprised to find Aerith just seated at the last step of the stairs and listening attentively at the conversation downstairs. "Oh, Aerith. You were listening all this time?"

"Well… yes, it was getting interesting. I can't imagine how you're going to act as Rufus' girlfriend, though," she replied, giggling a bit.

Tifa frowned and she decided to change the subject quickly. "Why is Cloud so protective of you nowadays, Aerith? He wouldn't even let you join us downstairs…"

"I'm not really sure… maybe because he doesn't want the Turks to see me?" Aerith replied, although she was unsure.

"And that Zack guy… I can remember him… but Cloud sorta reacted violently when the name was mentioned." Tifa began as she sat down beside Aerith. Aerith blinked. "You know Zack?" she asked.

"Yeah. Why? I was there when I toured them around Nibelheim. I even have a picture here with him and Sephiroth. Heehee!" Tifa said as she reached for her wallet, opened it and pulled out the picture that she was talking about. Aerith just took a quick glance at the picture and then made a face. "I can't believe I used to like that guy…" she muttered.

"Who, Sephiroth?" Tifa asked.

"No, Zack!" Aerith pointed out.

Tifa face-faulted and then began to laugh hysterically, "Yeah right! You actually liked that hedgehog-looking guy?! I mean, the first time I saw him, I almost laughed… but since he's a SOLDIER and he was quite nice, I just respected him…" she trailed off before pointing an accusing finger at Aerith as she gasped, "Oh dear! Don't tell me you have a fetish for spiky-headed guys?!" she asked in shock.

Aerith raised her eyebrows at Tifa in disbelief, "Of course not!!! Cloud is different from Zack… and it just so happened that… they seemed so alike before, but now I can see the real Cloud so… so I love him… and Zack's just a fling because I was so young and so naïve and…" she trailed off when she realized that she was already shouting… and everyone from downstairs could hear what she was saying. She just realized it when Sephiroth started laughing, "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Zack and Aerith?! Mwahahaha! That's so gross! Mwahahahahah!"

The two girls heard a very loud and feral growl, followed by Sephiroth's yelps of pain. "Cloud?! I was just kidding!!!" and crashing noises… and Lucrecia yelling, "BOYS, THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" and Barret saying, "Couple o' foo's! I'm outta here." And the front door slamming… and Vincent saying, "Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear! Careful with the vase!"

Tifa and Aerith exchanged looks before they slowly got up and just decided to hide in Marlene's room for a while, feeling somewhat sheepish.


	6. The Masquerade Ball

They Live!

By: GQ and Zhak

Chapter Six: Masquerade Ball

_Some days later…_

Zack and Yuffie just returned from the training grounds. Yuffie seemed hyper, jumping around and punching the air. "Hooyah! I can catch flies with my bare hands now! Heeheeheehee!!! I'm dah bomb!!! Heeheeheehee!" she cheered happily.

Zack just felt embarrassed for the two of them as he made a move to close the front gate, but stopped when he heard someone say, "Hey, man! Wait a sec!" Zack turned around again and peeked outside, seeing a messenger running his way. "Here! Can ya give it to the man? Lord Godo?"

Zack nodded as he received the red-and-white intricately designed invitation, with the ShinRa logo on its flap. "Whoa. Hot stuff," he thought to himself as he made his way to the Pagoda where Lord Godo was seated, drinking tea and watching his daughter jumping around him while laughing gaily. "Lord Godo, it's an invitation of some sort," Zack said, handing the invitation to his master.

Lord Godo curiously took the invitation from his grasp and flipped it open. "Greetings from Midgar! You and your family are cordially invited to be a part of my one and only son's 22nd Birthday Party on the 23rd of December of this wonderful year. It is a masquerade ball that will start at 18:00 up to midnight at the Second Floor Ballroom of the ShinRa Building. On that day, a very important announcement will be made, which could be considered as one of the most important parts of my son's life. We hope to see you there! Signed, President ShinRa."

Yuffie froze. "What?" she asked.

Zack felt somewhat overwhelmed but he did not say anything.

Lord Godo felt glad. "Great! A party! We'll attend! Although it's ShinRa-related…" he said.

"Dad, I thought you're against that family?!" Yuffie asked in disbelief.

"Well… these are desperate measures to get their favor so that they could help in the economic situation of our country." He replied.

"As if that would get them on our side. I _despise_ those bigtime apes like the ShinRas!!!" Yuffie snapped angrily.

"It could also mean that we're still part of the most important people in the Planet… that's why we're being invited." Lord Godo said with a smile on his face, ignoring what Yuffie had just mentioned.

"Important because they're gonna get on your good side and make you sell Wutai to them!" she snapped.

"No we're not. We're just being sociable. We don't want to argue with Midgarians after what they have done to us here in Wutai. It's like building friendships!" he said.

"Dad, it's Rufus's Masquerade Ball to celebrate his 22nd Birthday and not Wutai-Midgar National Friendship Day!!!" she snapped.

"What is wrong with you, daughter? And who is Rufus?" he asked.

"President ShinRa's son." Yuffie said simply.

Silence.

"Oh… yes. I remember now. He died already, right?" he asked.

Yuffie and Zack exchanged looks before she just decided to walk out. Zack followed after her. She went straight to the pond in their garden and just stared dumbfoundedly at it. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

"How the hell do we tell dad about the dead coming back to life without scaring him?" she asked miserably.

"Well… you are not scared of me, are you? I mean… I was one of those who…" he began, but stopped when she faced him again with a happy smile on her face, "Oh cool!!! If we're going to Midgar, I'll get to see my friends again!!!" she cheered happily.

He blinked, "Oh… I never knew your friends belonged to the upper class," he said with a calm smile on his face.

"No they don't. We can ditch dad and the party and then go straight to Sector 7! What do you say?" she asked excitedly.

"I'd say no." he replied.

She frowned at him, "Why not?" she demanded.

"Because that would be wrong and rude for your dad! I'm sure your father would like to introduce you to the President and to the President's son. I'm sure you and Rufus could make such very good friends!" Zack pointed out.

She stared unbelievably at him, "I thought you worked at ShinRa! You should know who Rufus is! And me? Friends with Rufus? I'll be a monkey's uncle!" she said sarcastically before turning away.

"Well I never really got to meet Rufus face to face, but I heard rumors going around…" he said.

"Rumors are only rumors, Zack." She muttered.

"Rufus was a nice person…" he told her.

"_Was_ a nice person. You used the past tense of _is_. It means that he was nice in the past! HAH!" she pointed out.

"But I met him when we were still spirits… he seemed… distant. Just like Sephiroth. And they're always together… and they're always with Aerith too… and when they're with Aerith, I get… sorta jealous because I can't be with her… and it's like they're shielding her away from something… I can't tell what, but it's… it's like they're protecting her from me!" he told her.

She just laughed at him. "That's so ridiculous!" she pointed out before sitting down on the grassy ground. "Aerith hanging out with two of the most annoying enemies in this Planet? I don't think so. That girl's the nicest one I've ever known. There's no way she could be friends with some bad-ass guys like Rufus and Sephiroth." She pointed out.

"Achoo!" Aerith sneezed all of a sudden, together with Sephiroth.

All eyes turned to them.

"You alright?" Cloud asked her.

"I'm fine," Sephiroth replied before sniffing. Cloud stared blankly at him, "I was asking Aerith." He said. Sephiroth just smiled mockingly at him, "Oh and I thought we're in good terms already. Mwahahaha." He told him.

"Not in _that_ kind of good terms." Cloud muttered.

"Alright, enough ya foo's. I don't like arguments in the dinner table." Barret snapped at them.

Sephiroth just glared at Cloud, while the other guy glared back at him. Aerith rubbed her nose and then sniffed. "I think someone's talking about me…" she said with a slight chuckle because she found the situation quite funny.

"Me too," Sephiroth said before turning to Barret, "Hey man. Maybe you could give us a number from one to twenty-six?" he asked.

"What foh?" Barret asked in confusion.

"The letter from the alphabet that corresponds to the number that you are going to pick randomly is the first letter of the person who is thinking or talking about the person who sneezed or accidentally bit his tongue or just choked on something. Get it?" Aerith asked.

"Don't tell me Sephiroth still believes in that superstition?" Barret asked, turning to Sephiroth. Sephiroth just shrugged. "Just for fun. Who knows, it could be right." He told him.

Barret thought for a while before saying, "25?"

Sephiroth frowned slightly. "Y?" he asked.

"Yuffie?" Aerith asked.

Silence.

"Why would she even bring up the topic about me to someone?" Aerith asked in wonder.

"Maybe she's praying for your soul." Sephiroth told her before turning to Tifa, "And you? Give another number. Two of us sneezed." He said.

"What about 26?" Tifa asked mindlessly before taking a sip of water.

"Z?" Lucrecia asked.

Everyone in the room fell silent.

Cloud just smiled slyly at Sephiroth, "Looks like your favorite SOLDIER is thinking about you, huh?" he asked.

Sephiroth just sneered at him.

At the same time that Aerith and Sephiroth sneezed, Rufus just started choking, surprising President ShinRa.

"Are you alright?" President ShinRa asked with a frown on his face, thinking that his son must be eating too fast or carelessly, and he believes that it's a result of lack of manners. And to think he paid for his son's Finishing School tuition fees for four years for nothing…

Rufus got his glass of water and began to drink. Afterwards, he grabbed the napkin from his lap and wiped his lips. And then he burped. He frowned. "Pardon me." He muttered.

"What's the matter with you?" President ShinRa asked.

Rufus did not answer. He just stared at his unfinished food and then pushed the plate away. "I don't like this steak… in fact, I don't like meat." He got up. "I'm going back to my office," he told him.

"Rufus, stay here!" President ShinRa snapped.

Rufus just stared stiffly at his father. "Yes?" he asked.

"Sit down, son. I have something to discuss with you." President ShinRa said.

Rufus thought for a while before sitting down again.

"I'm so curious about your girlfriend, you know… why don't you describe her to me? Y'know, like how she looks like and how long her hair is and…"

"It's none of your concern, really." Rufus said, cutting him off.

"Yes, it is." President ShinRa replied.

"And why?" Rufus asked.

President ShinRa leaned back on his seat, "Because it is important for me to know! I am your father and I care about your reputation, since you are going to become the President when the right time comes! I don't want you to marry someone who looks so low-classed. She has to be glamorous… someone fitting for the name _ShinRa_!"

Rufus just stared in disgust at his father, "So you're saying that I'm supposed to marry for the sake of my image?" he asked.

"Er…something like that. Just think of your reputation in the future. To be able to attract more attention for your future influence in the hearts and minds of the people, you have to have someone glamorous to be beside you for all your life!" President ShinRa reasoned.

Rufus turned away for a while, bowing down his head in wonder before looking up at his father again with a sarcastic smile on his face, "Oh is that why you married the woman who became my mother because she was beautiful in her youth? Because she was a famous and beautiful woman… and when she cut her hair, you started dating other women because you found it unattractive, huh?" he asked before he got up. "Don't worry, _daddy,_ your future daughter-in-law is the most beautiful woman in the whole Planet… at least for me. I don't need your opinion on her; I'm going to present her to the world on my birthday as what your plan states." He declared sarcastically before walking out of the dining room while thinking, "I could just have him assassinated by Sephiroth… if only the guy's strong enough again." he thought silently. The truth is, all of them who just came back to life are not yet physically and mentally ready to take on too many activities. Based on Hojo's calculations, which he had announced during one of the past meetings of the week, it might take them two up to three years before they could become physically and mentally fit again just like before during their first life.

He finally reached his office where he found the Turks seated on the couch facing his desk. "Oh, you're here?" he asked curiously. The four Turks got up with pleased looks on their faces (except for Rude who's always poker-faced). "The suits and gowns are here, sir." Tseng replied.

Rufus raised his eyebrows at them, "All ready?" he asked in awe.

"Your dressmaker had the sizes." Tseng explained. Rufus smiled slightly and nodded his head in a pleased manner, "Perfect. Where are they? Did you also get some clothes done for Barret, Cloud, Aerith and Lucrecia?" he asked.

"Of course. Based on your orders, sir. But they don't know it." Reno replied.

"We'll just deliver the clothes to them tomorrow morning." Elena said happily.

"You sure nobody saw you?" Rufus asked as he approached his desk and switched on his laptop.

"Well, your father saw us and asked what those boxes are. I told him that it's your new wardrobe for winter this year because you ordered it from a catalog and then had it delivered here." She replied.

"Oh so they're boxed? How are they labeled?" he asked as he sat down.

"With some codes that I'm sure will be understood by them easily." Tseng replied with a pleased look on his face as he pointed at the boxes that were placed just behind Rufus's chair. Rufus spun his seat around and looked at the individual boxes. He read them one by one: "Brown Bear. Fluffy Cloud. Pink Angel. Final Heaven. Silver Angel. Red Vampire…" he frowned and just shrugged. "Quite impressive. But… Silver _Angel_ for Sephiroth?' he asked in awe.

The Turks glanced at one another before Reno answered, "It shouldn't be obvious to your dad, sir." He told him with a silly smile on his face.

Rufus just turned back to them with a serious expression on his face. "Good." He told them. "And their masks?" he asked.

"Already included in the boxes, sir. Mister Wallace's mask is a bear… Mister Strife's got a goblin mask… Miss Gainsborough's got a doll mask; Miss Lockheart's mask will simply cover her eyes… it's attached to a stick so she can hold it. Sephiroth's mask is a one-sided kind and will only cover the left side of his face; while Mister Valentine's mask is the same kind but will cover the right side of his face. Miss Lucrecia's mask is… a monstrous-looking one." Elena explained with an excited look on her face.

Rufus imagined their masks and how it would look like. "Don't you want to look at them, sir?" Tseng chimed in. Rufus shook his head. "I'll just surprise myself when I see them on my birthday." He said simply before he began to continue his work. "Now piss off." he said stiffly.

With that, the Turks left.

_On the day of the party…_

"Sir Rufus, come out now this instant! Your father is beginning to get impatient!" Scarlet shouted as she kept on knocking impatiently on Rufus's bedroom door.

It was already a quarter before seven in the evening and all the guests have arrived already, but Rufus was still upstairs in his own room.

Inside, he was just standing by the window and looking up at the stars with a weary look on his face. Dark Nation was standing beside his right leg and doing the same thing. "It would be such a peaceful night if that woman isn't shouting, don't you think so, Darky?" he asked softly as he patted her head.

"Meowrrr…" the big panther-like animal replied with a frustrated tone. Rufus glanced at his watch before sighing. "I guess it's time to go." He told her before proceeding to his bed to pick up his mask. It was like a Zorro mask but it was made of white silk. After knotting the ends behind his head, he went over to his dresser to check how he looked. He smiled rather vainly at himself as he flipped his hair, "I look so bloody hot tonight. Heh, heh." He said out loud to please himself. Dark Nation just snorted.

He glared at her, "Oh so you think you're better looking, huh?" he asked playfully.

The cat just purred as she rubbed her head against his leg. He smiled softly as he patted her head and stroked her fur gently. "Come on, let's go…" he told her as he led the way to the door.

Scarlet was surprised when the door just opened… and there was Rufus all dressed in a white tuxedo, black shoes and a white mask around his eyes… and his hair not brushed back in its usual manner with gel. "Kyah…" was all she could say.

"Is everybody there already?" he asked.

"Y…yes, sir…" she said, nodding her head.

With that, Rufus went over to the elevators with Dark Nation trailing behind him.

"I'm beginning to feel rather uncomfortable having my left claw hold your hand…" Vincent muttered miserably to Sephiroth.

"Me too. Your claw is too cold, dammit!" Sephiroth replied before he went over to the punch bowl, dragging Vincent with him. Barret's instruction was never to let go of Vincent's left claw and just hold it close to himself while the black shawl is covering it. "What if we need to go to the bathroom?" Vincent asked in worry.

"Then you're coming with me to the men's room." Sephiroth replied as he got himself another glass of punch.

"In _this_ gown?" Vincent asked in disbelief, referring to his vermillion red gown. Tifa, Aerith and Lucrecia spent one hour and thirty minutes just fixing him up: applying the make-up on his face and then fixing his hair. The finished product was rather… surprising. He ended up looking more beautiful and lovelier than the girls. And when they entered the ballroom, all eyes really turned to him and he received a lot of ooohs and aaahs.

As for Sephiroth, he was wearing a black tuxedo. The girls had his hair colored with washable blonde hair dye so that the silver hair would not stand out too much in the crowd, and then tied his hair in a loose ponytail (just like Tifa's).

From a far, Cloud and Aerith were just standing by one of the pillars, watching the crowd of upper class people socializing with one another. At the same time, they were keeping a close eye on Sephiroth and Vincent. "Hey… where's Teef?" Aerith asked. She was wearing a baby pink strapless gown… and it was rather sexy for her that almost all the men were staring, making Cloud feel somewhat annoyed.

Cloud shrugged. "I think she's with Lucrecia." He said.

"What about Barret?" she asked.

"Over there, talking to Yuffie…" Cloud muttered. He sounded a bit annoyed, and Aerith noticed it. Aerith looked around. "Really? Yuffie's here? Where?" she asked.

Cloud gave up, he pointed to Yuffie… and Zack.

Aerith followed the trail of his finger and finally saw Barret and Yuffie… and Zack. She gasped. "What is he doing here?" she asked in shock.

"I don't know… but it appears like he's Yuffie's escort." He replied.

"Really? That's great! He's finally found the right girl for himself! Teehee!" Aerith said happily while giggling. Then, some waltz-like music began to play. "Oh my! Cloud! Let's dance!" she said before dragging him to the dancefloor. "But…" he stammered.

Sephiroth heard the music and rejoiced. "Mwahahahaha! Let's dance, Vinny!!!" he said before dragging Vincent to the dancefloor. "Oh slow down! I might trip…" Vincent struggled to say while trying hard to keep his balance. He's not used to walking in high heels, of course.

Zack had a smiley mask to cover his face… and he's wearing a black suit. He somewhat felt ridiculous with a mask on his face, especially on the account that it was a plain smiley mask, while Yuffie had a hockey mask on. He was persistent to have the hockey mask, but Yuffie was on an I-saw-it-first mode that morning when they were buying, so he ended up with a plain smiley mask. They arrived in Midgar three days earlier because they just traveled by boat. Travel was quicker because Lord Godo refused to make stop-overs, so they ate the stocked food in their boat. Yuffie was usually seasick so she never really ate too much… leaving everything to Zack and to her father. When they arrived in Midgar only on the morning of the day of the event itself, Lord Godo had their things checked-in at the Sector 1 Hotel while she and Zack went straight to the mall to buy the things they need for the ball. Yuffie got herself a light green backless gown (which really made her father throw a fit at first before he finally let her wear it for the event). Lord Godo wanted her to wear a Cheongsam but she refused to. "Dad, this is not a Wutaian party." She reasoned.

When they arrived at the ShinRa Building at exactly 6 in the evening, Yuffie immediately wanted to ditch her father as soon as they could get inside the ballroom, but Zack kept on convincing her not to go and at least be sociable for her father's sake. Yuffie was going to protest against his statement, but thank goodness when she instantly identified Barret coming in. Although she was wondering what he was doing in a place like that, she just rushed over to him, happy to see him, while Zack trailed behind her. Just doing his job… besides, he saw Don Corneo eyeing Yuffie quite maliciously from one corner of the room while with President ShinRa, Heidegger and some other business tycoons.

"We all missed you, actually… but now that you're here, go away! Heheh." Barret joked.

Yuffie frowned at him. "Hmf! That's so sweet of you…" she began before moving closer to Barret, "Honestly, what are you doing here? And I'd suspect that the others are here too?" she whispered.

Barret took a quick glance at Zack, who was wondering about the man behind the bear mask and how he is related to Yuffie. Barret bent down a little and whispered to Yuffie, "Infiltration. Rufus's idea. He's determined to get his father's ass off the Presidential Seat."

"WHAT?!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"SHHH!!!" Barret snapped at her.

She covered her mouth and laughed sheepishly at herself. "Oh… heehee…" she blushed slightly and looked up at Zack whom she could tell was really eyeing her suspiciously behind his smiley mask. Zack just turned away, muttering, "I'm not hearing anything. You can continue your private meeting…" and froze. His eyes widened a bit when he saw a particular couple dancing on the dancefloor.

He just shook his head in disbelief. "Nah… those two can't be Cloud and Aerith… they're not from the upper class anyway…" he thought silently… although he really thought those two were the ones that he had thought of because of… he was not sure. He just had a feeling that those two are Cloud and Aerith.

"I can't believe it myself, either… Sephiroth and Rufus on our side? That's like a dream turning into a reality. But really, it's true! I'd be a damn monkey's uncle if those darn foo's are just playin' wit our minds y'know!?" Barret told Yuffie in a discreet manner

"So it's just you and Sephiroth around this place at present, spying? Where are the others?" she asked softly in a whispery tone.

Barret moved his head from side to side, as if scanning the whole place from where he is. "Vincent is supposed to disguise himself as Tifa's mom. Sephiroth is Vincent's husband and Tifa's dad… Lucrecia will leave the ballroom later on with the help of the Turks to disable some of the security alarms and monitors. Cloud and Aerith are over there dancing…"

"Really?" Yuffie asked happily, suddenly so psyched to see Aerith. She turned to the dancefloor and scanned the place…

"The girl with the doll face dancing with the goblin. Heheh." Barret described with a silly smile on his face.

Yuffie nodded. "I see…" she said, suppressing further reactions so that she could also help in keeping things a secret… but she really couldn't wait until she could talk to Aerith again. "Heehee! I can't wait to talk to get the chance to talk to her again! Heehee!" she said excitedly. Zack turned to her, "Who?" he asked.

"Aerith!" she replied.

"Really? Where is she?" he asked in a whispery tone.

"Over there, dancing with Cloud!" Yuffie pointed out in a cautious manner. Zack turned back to the dancefloor and just stared in a dumbfounded manner at the girl with the doll face mask.

Barret tapped Yuffie's shoulder, "By the way, who's your boyfriend?" he asked.

Yuffie's jaw dropped upon hearing that. She frowned at him and placed her hands on her hips, "GROSSNESS!!! He's _not_ my boyfriend!" She reacted in protest. "His name is Zack and he's been hired by my dad to work as a bodyguard for me because dad's so paranoid that maniacs might try to get his one and only daughter… ugh… remember that _incident_ with the Don?" she pointed out in a calmer manner.

Barret laughed at her, "Oh yeah… you and Elena got kidnapped by that ol' foo'. Heheh. Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your bodyguard?" he asked.

Yuffie turned to Zack, "Hey, Zack," she called out. But he wasn't paying attention. She followed the trail of his gaze through the eye holes of his smiley mask and it led to Aerith. She felt a little stunned at first, and then she felt her heart sinking. She swallowed hard and stomped her foot impatiently, "Zack!?" she called out.

Barret also noticed that the guy was staring somewhere else… and realized that it was Aerith.

Zack still did not react until Yuffie tugged on his sleeve, "Zack," she snapped impatiently. He jerked slightly, as if he had just snapped out of a deep trance. "Y…yeah?" he asked.

Yuffie turned back to Aerith, staring at her with a frown on her face before looking back at him. "Never mind!" she said through clenched teeth and then turned back to Barret. "Anyway, you were saying about the AVALANCHE plan--?" she asked, trying to sound casual, although it was in her face that she was feeling a bit disappointed.

Barret was about to answer her question but they were interrupted when the music stopped playing and President ShinRa's voice just echoed through the speaker system. All eyes turned to the podium where he was standing by the microphone, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the star of tonight's masquerade ball, my one and only son: Rufus!".

Rufus just flipped his hair when everyone turned to look at him. He had just stepped inside the ballroom and already, everybody really paid too much attention to him.

He noticed a lot of the young women in the ballroom who took off their masks just so that they could stare closely at him… and make him notice them staring at him while batting their eyelashes. Rufus just ignored them and took a quick glance at his Old Man before deciding to move around the ballroom.

"Okay… where's Tifa?" Sephiroth whispered to Vincent.

"I don't know… I think she was with Lucrecia but… I don't see Lucrecia anywhere anymore…" Vincent whispered back. From behind them, the girl wearing a black ball gown tapped their shoulders, "Hey,"

The two of them turned around and there was Tifa holding her mask securely to her eyes, not wanting to be recognized too much.

"It's alright if you take that off. You don't look like the usual you anyway," Sephiroth told her.

Tifa put down her mask and giggled. "Hi, _dad_! Lucrecia just went _out_ for a while to go to the _ladies' room_." She told him.

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Oh… I see…" he replied, getting what she had meant by that. Barret approached them with Yuffie and Zack. Sephiroth suddenly sensed something… and he backed off a little, taking Vincent and Tifa with him.

Zack stopped in his tracks, recognizing Tifa. Tifa just stared in awe at him. "Z…Zack?" she asked in shock.

Sephiroth frowned.

Zack forced a smile at her. "H…hi, Tifa!" he greeted rather uneasily.

"Teef!!!" Yuffie cheered happily as she jumped onto Tifa and gave her a tight hug. "Hey… easy there! choke" Tifa struggled to say while trying to push her friend away.

Yuffie moved away. "Oh… sorry. I just missed you!!! Heehee!" she explained happily.

Sephiroth nudged Vincent and Tifa, "Come on," he muttered when Barret gave him the signal.

Tifa swallowed hard before whispering to Yuffie, "Be right back. Got some acting to do," she said before flashing an thumbs-up at Barret.

Barret just nodded his head before he turned and walked away. "Yuffie," he muttered as he passed by her. She nodded and waved at Tifa and Vincent before following after Barret, taking Zack with her.

Sephiroth snorted, "What's that guy doing here with her?!" he snapped in annoyance.

"What's wrong with Zack?" Tifa asked him.

"I thought I had gotten rid of him in the hospital!" Sephiroth explained before giving Tifa a slight push, signaling her to go ahead of them.

While still perplexed, Tifa just decided to walk through the crowds and make her way to Rufus.

Rufus slowly turned his gaze to the woman walking towards him. He removed his mask and flashed a smile at her… a smile that he had intended to do on purpose… the kind that could not be avoided. She looked… different…

She was also smiling at him rather lovingly as she ran to him with open-arms. She finally met him and gave him a tight embrace, making him feel stunned… along with the other guests.

He returned her embrace while carefully staring at the "woman" who was standing beside Sephiroth. He fought the urge to smile further as he told Tifa, "Looking lovely tonight, Miss Lockheart… and the same goes to your _mother_."

She chuckled lightly as she noticed the other women staring enviously at her. She slowly let go of him. "Rufus, I'd like to introduce you to my parents… Serafin and Victoria." She said with a proud look on her face.

Sephiroth and Vincent faked a smile at Rufus. "It's a pleasure to meet the beloved boyfriend of our one and only daughter." The latter said with a voice in falsetto while offering his right hand to Rufus. Tifa glared unbelievably at Vincent as she still kept a loving smile plastered on her face. "Goodness… he sounds like a woman!" she was thinking silently to herself as she watched Rufus kiss the hand of her "mother".

Sephiroth nodded his head in greeting to Rufus and offered a handshake. "Pleasure to meet you," he said. Rufus shook hands with him while staring into his green eyes behind his mask. Sephiroth could interpret the look in Rufus's eyes… he was mocking him.

With that, Rufus went over to Tifa and took her hand in his. The music began to play again while they walked hand-in-hand to the buffet table where they saw Cloud standing with Aerith and eating some canapés. "Are they ready yet?" Rufus muttered to her.

"Lucrecia's already gone to meet the Turks… Barret and Yuffie followed them… and Zack's with them." Tifa replied.

Rufus froze. "Zack?" he asked.

"Yeah. Zack. Why? You know him?" she asked curiously.

"Do me a favor… never ever mention that name to Cloud," Sephiroth warned her as he and Vincent trailed behind them. Tifa jumped up in surprise, "_Dad_! You gave me a fright!" she said in shock.

"Why not?" Vincent asked him.

But it was too late for Sephiroth to answer because Cloud already saw them and approached, telling them, "I'm sure I've seen Yuffie somewhere here with Barret and _Zack_?"

Silence.

He sounded like he was unhappy about something.

Aerith just stood still behind Cloud, smiling behind her mask. The others were not aware, except for her, that President ShinRa is approaching with Scarlet, Heidegger, Hojo, Palmer and Reeve following behind him. She gently tugged on the tail of Cloud's tuxedo, giving him a signal. Cloud looked past Sephiroth and Vincent… and he saw the incoming gang. "Talk to you later. Aerith and I will just go now." He said in a low whisper.

"The 70th floor is unlocked, I made sure of that before I went here. Go." Rufus told him in a discreet manner. With that, Cloud took Aerith's hand and bowed to show respect to Rufus (as part of their act, since President ShinRa is already watching them). "I congratulate you, Rufus," he said out loud with a proud tone.

President ShinRa finally arrived by Rufus's side. "So, son. Meeting some guests, eh?" he asked before turning to Cloud. Cloud jerked slightly, not knowing what to say anymore until Rufus spoke up with confidence, "This is Lord Strife from… Kalm. He owns one of the lands there. He just arrived here this afternoon with his wife, Lady Strife."

President ShinRa flashed a friendly smile at Cloud. Of course, they all knew that he's just trying to be friendly with "Lord Strife" because he owns a land… and maybe it was a big one… which could become a great advantage for President ShinRa's own use. Cloud just nodded his head in greeting. "Pardon me," he said before stepping aside with Aerith and then they both headed over to the punch bowl, leaving them alone.

"Hmm… strange man." President ShinRa muttered glumly before turning to look at Sephiroth and Vincent. He and his executives raised their eyebrows at the two, then at Tifa.

"Father, I'd like you to meet my Tifa." Rufus introduced.

Scarlet uttered a soft, "What?!" but Reeve nudged her.

Tifa smiled pleasantly at President ShinRa, "Oh, your Excellency! How wonderful it is to finally meet you in person!" she said with a pleasant tone as she curtsied. "Now I know where Rufus had inherited his wonderful looks. Heehee!" she said sweetly.

Rufus took that as an insult but he kept cool and just flipped his hair. "Tifa and her family here traveled all the way from Gongaga." He said stiffly.

President ShinRa eyed Tifa from head to toe. "Hmm… quite a lovely lady, huh? And…" he could not help but be a pervert and stare at her chest. "Quite _well-endowed_ too… just like your mother. You got my taste, son. Har har har har har har!" he remarked happily.

Rufus took a sharp intake of breath upon hearing that. Tifa's smile faded away as she moved closer to Rufus, as if seeking refuge in him from a maniac. She clutched his arm rather tightly.

With that President ShinRa turned to look at Sephiroth and Vincent again. "And you are the parents of this very beautiful and charming young lady?" he asked nicely.

"Yes. I'm Serafin. This is my wife Vin… Victoria!" Sephiroth introduced, but not even offering a handshake. Vincent was eyeing Hojo with a blank look on his face… because the man seems to be hitting on her. Hojo flashed him one of his coolest smiles. "Hello," he greeted.

Vincent shuddered. "Bloody hell…" he muttered under his breath.

Lucrecia giggled as she watched from one of the surveillance cameras. "Hey, Elena. Take a look at this!" she said.

Elena walked over to her after double-checking if she had completely knocked the lights out of one of the Soldiers assigned in the surveillance room. "What's up?" she asked.

Lucrecia referred to the monitor connected to one of the cameras in the ballroom. "I think Hojo's got the hots for Vincent. Heheh." She announced.

Elena raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that disturbing?" she asked in confusion and disgust.

"Well at least it lets me know how good of a make-up artist I am too! Heehee!" Lucrecia said before pressing some buttons, disabling some of the cameras and then the alarms.

"You sure know your way around here, huh?" Elena asked.

"Of course. I once worked here in ShinRa several years ago." Lucrecia replied before she was finally done. "There. Let's get going to the laboratory." She told her.

Cloud led the way to the top floor, careful not to wake up the SOLDIERs sleeping on their job. Aerith followed close behind him, holding her rod just in case somebody attempts to attack them all of a sudden. She was also observing the activity of the surveillance cameras that do not seem to be moving anymore. She realized that Lucrecia and Elena must have been successful.

"I think they've finally disabled the security surveillance system." She whispered to him.

"That's good…" Cloud said with a serious look on his face as he finally reached the 70th floor, but when he looked behind him, she was not there anymore. "Aerith?" he thought before rushing down the stairs again.

He felt relieved when he saw her there and just casting sleep on the SOLDIERs. "Can't risk getting caught, Cloud." She told him.

He shook his head in disbelief. "Shall I go ahead?" he asked.

"Do so. I'll keep watch here." She told him reassuringly. "Well, she seems brave enough…" he thought silently to himself before proceeding upstairs again to the office.

He surveyed his surroundings before proceeding, but just as he was about to come closer to the desk, he jumped up in surprise when he heard someone say, "Hold it right there!!!"

He stopped in his tracks and felt nervous all of a sudden. He slowly turned around to see who it was… and it was just Reno holding a key.

Reno approached him and handed him the key. "If you're going to look for files, it's in the President's laptop… and the laptop is in one of the secure drawers of that desk. And here's the key." He said.

Cloud stared unbelievably at him. "You are so _helpful_. Thank you very much." He said as he took the key with a sarcastic smile on his face before heading over to the desk. "So why aren't you downstairs watching Tifa and the rest?" he asked as he searched for the right drawer.

"Rude's doing that. I'm just here to assist you as requested by the Vice President." Reno replied before patting the right drawer, "This is it," he pointed out.

Cloud reached for the key and inserted it carefully in the keyhole.

Reno watched as Cloud was finally able to open the locked drawer and brought out a small laptop and placed it on the table, flipping the top open. Cloud switched it on and waited for the Operating System to load. At the start-up screen, a password was being asked. "Shit…" he muttered.

Reno pushed him aside and started to type the password. "_I'm the hottest President_." He muttered.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "_That_ is the password?" he asked in disbelief.

"Unfortunately, yes." Reno replied before pushing the _enter_ button and stepped aside, crossing his arms. "I'm gonna get fired if some snitch catches me here…" he muttered miserably.

"You can always work in Tifa's 7th Heaven. She could use some help there." Cloud said with a slight smile on his face. "Or on second thought… forget what I said. You might consume all the beer there anyway." He said jokingly before he was finally able to browse through the files.

"That's an exaggerated reality! How come you people always perceive that I'm such a drunkard?" Reno demanded in annoyance.

"Because that's what your image projects to us. Anyway, I've heard that the blueprints for the Mako Reactors are also stored here?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah." Reno said.

"You think we can find it here? There are too many blueprints here…" Cloud pointed out.

"Hmm… check out his latest scanned documents and images. Maybe it's all there." Reno replied. While Cloud was programming the computer to search for the files, he was reading one of the documented plans of President ShinRa. "So… this Old Man is going to be putting up new Mako Reactors in Wutai, Gongaga, Nibelheim, Icicle Inn and Costa del Sol…" he said softly.

"Really?" Reno asked in disbelief as he decided to read over his shoulder. His eyes widened. "Whoa… that's gonna be expensive…" he said.

Cloud scrolled down and saw the line: "_Wipe out Sectors 4-7 with Hojo's Black Death_." His eyes widened upon reading that. "Holy crap…" he muttered before pulling out a CD-RW from one of his secret pockets in his blazer, and then a portable CD Writer. He connected it to the laptop and inserted the CD in the writer.

"What are you going to do?" Reno asked.

"Copying files." Cloud replied.

Finally, the blueprints were found.

"If I were you I'd copy all the latest ones, even those that you think are not really important… even the annual reports and marketing plans for this season. Who knows, it could help." Reno pointed out. Cloud smiled slightly, "That's exactly what I'm going to do." He told him. Reno watched as he continued to work and asked, "Hey, what are you guys going to do aside from that stuff you're doin' right now?"

"I don't know about Barret. He'll send me a text message about the other plans." Cloud said. And just when copying was completed, his mobile phone vibrated (it's in silent mode) in his trouser pocket. "Here goes…" he muttered before pulling out his mobile phone and checked the message. "Gather in Reactor 1 now. We'll start installing the bombs. Blow-up starts 15 minutes before midnight." He read out loud.

Reno clasped his hands together, "This is getting more interesting! But I guess the Turks have to be with President ShinRa so that it won't be obvious that we're on the _rebels'_ side." He told him with a pleased smile on his face.

"Yeah, this is really fun." Cloud said sarcastically before handing his phone to Reno, "Here. Reply to Barret. Tell him I'll be going there with Aerith."

Reno was texting while Cloud was disconnecting the CD Writer from the laptop. With that, he shut down the laptop and returned it back inside the drawer. "Okay, that's it." He said before locking it.

"Cool phone. Where'd you buy it?" Reno asked.

"Somewhere." Cloud replied mindlessly while putting the portable CD Writer in his pocket again before turning to Reno and stared unbelievably at him, "Are you finished with that?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Reno said, his smile widening. "Whoa, you look nasty here!" he pointed out. Cloud's eyes widened and looked over Reno's shoulder, realizing that the redhead Turk was already browsing through the gallery of his camera phone (yes, the one from Advent Children). "Whehehey! What are you and Aerith doing here?" Reno asked with a teasing tone.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "It's just us eating dinner. Tifa took that picture, okay?" he asked.

"I wonder what your hand is doing…" Reno muttered before switching to another picture. "Whoa, momma! Who's this hot babe?" he asked out loud.

Cloud laughed. "That's Vincent."

Silence.

"No kidding?!" Reno demanded in shock.

"That was taken while the girls were fixing him up for tonight." Cloud said before grabbing his phone from Reno's grasps and placed it inside his pocket again. "Now let's go before Barret gets impatient." He pointed out.

"Ah, c'mon, it's not like he'll eat us alive or anything…" Reno said, reaching for the phone again. Cloud covered the jacket pocket and frowned at him. "Fine… just let me see more pictures after the mission's over!"

"Why do you want to see the pictures so badly?" Cloud asked impatiently.

"Well, you might have taken pictures of a naked A… er, Red XIII." Reno reasoned with a funny smile on his face. Cloud stared blankly at him, "Red XIII _is_ naked." He muttered.

"That's my point! Eheh…" Reno said weakly as they got downstairs. "I meant… a naked… uh…" he trailed off when he saw Aerith just standing by one of a sleeping guard and poking it with her rod. She giggled, "He's sleeping soundly! I thought I was weakened when I returned here but my sleep is still working well… probably better!" she said with an amused look on her face.

"The camera phone I'd like to get my hands on is Rufus's." Cloud told Reno with a wink before turning to Aerith. "C'mon. Barret's waiting." He told her.

Reno shook his head. "Nah. I got my hands on that phone. It's too boring. The pictures consisted only of seascapes and himself… but at least you get to see him smiling and making ugly faces there. Heh heh." He told Cloud. Cloud was amazed. "Whoa… you should've had those printed and distributed to the Presses!" he pointed out.

"What are you guys talking about anyway?" Aerith asked while they were on their way to the stairs (because taking an elevator could be risky).

"Just camera phones." Reno replied simply with a funny look on his face.

Tseng, Elena and Lucrecia were still in the laboratory; while Barret, Yuffie and Zack were already in Mako Reactor number 1.

"Why's da foo' here wit' us?" Barret asked.

Yuffie sighed impatiently. "Daddy will kill me if he finds out I went _anywhere _without this guy," she explained. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to bombard shurikens at this guy until he dies if he blabs anything about this incident… hear that, Zacky?" she said, turning to her bodyguard with a mocking, sweet smile.

Zack frowned. "I heard you…" he replied weakly. Yuffie studied the look on his face before she glanced away from him, staring at Barret while he was beginning to install the first bomb. "Why are you so miserable?" she asked frankly.

Zack was just quiet as he looked around his surroundings while thinking "I haven't been here for a long time…"

"Zack!!!" she snapped impatiently. He turned to her with a surprised look on his face but she was not even looking at him. "Sorry… what were you saying, Yuffie?" he asked kind of glumly.

She clenched her fists as she walked over to Barret and decided to help him. "GAWDS!!! Just _let go of her_!" she snapped impatiently, surprising Barret. "Whoa. Who's the _her_? Whatcha foo's talkin' 'bout?" he asked curiously.

"I can't!" Zack replied rather helplessly.

"Well then why can't you fight for her? Like steal her away?" she suggested with a mocking tone. He just kept quiet. She laughed. "I don't know about you but…" she trailed off. She just shook her head. "Why do I even bother…" she muttered miserably before pushing Barret aside. "GAWDS!!! You're too slow. I'll rig the wires myself!" she snapped with a shaky tone that he easily noticed. "Whassamatta wit ya?" Barret demanded.

She just ignored him.

"Ah, great. Lover's quarrel during an important mission. Ya foo's betta not mess this #$%%$ mission ya hear?!" Barret yelled over the background noises of the reactor. "If ya do, I'll kill ya both and ya can do yer arguin' at the Lifestream! Besides, this mission's not only planned by AVALANCHE but also Rufus. He's payin' us big time to get this job done without flaws. Y'all know what a perfectionist that brat is," he pointed out.

"I don't get it." Yuffie muttered.

"Like what I said earlier, Rufus and Sephiroth are on our side now." Barret said.

Zack just bowed down his head before walking slightly away from them. "I'll just check if someone's coming…" he said rather miserably.

"What's that guy talking about anyway?" Barret asked Yuffie.

"He said he's checking…" she began, but he cut her off, "No, I mean, the _her_ thing? Whosshe?" he asked.

"Never you mind." Yuffie said miserably.

"C'mon, I won't blab or 'nythin'." He told her.

"I SAID NEVER MIND!!!" she shrieked.

Then there was a "Who goes there?!"

A Soldier.

"You #$%%$!!!!! Why'd you have to shriek?" Barret demanded, getting ready to shoot with his gun arm, but as the SOLDIER emerged from one of the corners, Zack just knocked him off with the handle of his Buster Sword, surprising Barret.

"Whoa!!! What the--?!" Barret demanded.

"Taken care of," Zack said neutrally.

"Buster sword?" Barret asked in awe.

"Long story…" Yuffie muttered miserably.

"It's alright, I'll be the watch." Zack replied before kicking the unconscious SOLDIER away towards one corner.

"Dang, foo!" the older man said. "Some move ya got there! Anyways, Yuffie, ya done over there?"

"If you'll stop blabbing, maybe I can concentrate better and get this over with!"

"Sheesh. Is it that time of the month or sumthin'…" Barret mumbled under his breath.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Yuffie shrieked, her shrill voice echoing throughout the reactor. (Luckily, there weren't any more guards..)

"Nuthin, Yuf. Just concentrate on what yer doin'…"

Zack rubbed the space between his eyes, regretting on insisting to accompany Yuffie in the reactor. "Should have just killed myself…" he thought to himself regretfully. His train of thought ended when he heard footsteps. "More players, huh?" he approached the ladder where the person would go down, raised his sword above his head when the timing was right…

His sword-strike missed. The spiky-haired visitor dodged just in time.

"The hell?!" It was just a tuxedo-clad Cloud, climbing the steps with Aerith and Reno behind him.

Zack's eyes widened. "Cloud," he said blankly.

The blonde frowned. "What are _you _doing here?" he said, a hint of irritation in his voice.

He lowered his sword. "Doing my job… watching over Yuffie…" he looked away and walked away from them as the three got down from the ladder.

Barret looked up from watching Yuffie do her job. "Hey! You guys finally arrived! But I think Yuffie here could do the job by herself," he said, his arms crossed.

"Yeah, I can see that… but does he have to be here?" Cloud said, pointing at Zack.

"She says so," Barret answered, shrugging.

Aerith sighed as she looked over to Zack. "Hey," she called out. Zack looked up at her questioningly. "Zack… we'll have to talk sometime." He heard her say.

"Ah… sure," Zack replied uneasily. Aerith nodded and turned to Cloud, who was looking at the two of them curiously. "I'll straighten things out, don't worry," she whispered to Cloud. He nodded, but not without casting a doubting glance at Zack.

Reno threw his arms up in the air. "Oh, don't look at me… I'm just the background guy who doesn't know anything! What the hell's with you guys?! You're all so miserable while there's a party upstairs?!" he said in frustration. "The tension in the air's killin' me here!!!"

Barret shook his head. "No use talkin' to these foo's…" he told him.

A click resounded in the whole reactor room. "Done. It'll explode in 3 minutes so we better get our butts out of here…," Yuffie announced, dusting her hands as she stood up. "I'm going back to the ballroom…"

As Zack made a move to follow her, she gave him a glare that stopped him in his tracks. "Don't follow me… dumb$$..." she muttered with contempt before she went ahead of the others.

The clacking of her heels echoed throughout the place. "Whoa… hot stuff. Did you do something stupid?" Reno asked Zack with a teasing smile.

Zack sighed. "Shut up," he said before following Yuffie.

"Well… Us Turks should be back at the ballroom before the power goes out… You guys better get Lucrecia before you get out of here," Reno said, raising a hand to them before running up the ladder.

Aerith gasped. "Oh, yes, we have to get Lucrecia before the power goes out! We have to hurry, you guys!"

_2 minutes and 50 seconds after the bomb was activated…_

Yuffie grumbled as she tried to make her way towards the party. She looked at her watch, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father waving at her. "3 seconds from now…" she thought.

The people at the party gasped as a loud, dull blow erupted from somewhere near. A few seconds later, the lights flickered and all things plugged died.

The emergency lights flashed soon after. "Calm down, people, calm down!" President ShinRa yelled amidst the commotion of panicking elites.

Rufus, Tifa, Sephiroth and Vincent just stayed put in the middle of the ballroom with President ShinRa and being surrounded by the Turks. President ShinRa was already panicking but he was trying to hide it. He just moved away from his son and proceeded to the window with the Turks and the Executives following him. "What is going on in here?! Is there a terrorist attack?!" he yelled impatiently.

Rufus smiled secretly as he looked at Tifa with an admiring look on his face, "It feels so good working with you and AVALANCHE." He said softly.

She just stood still, observing the people as they ran out of the ballroom. "I'm getting nervous… what if your father or one of the executives finds out?" she asked.

"It's gonna be one disgusting mess…" Sephiroth muttered.

Rufus frowned. "I won't let them…" he reassured.

Yuffie tried to avoid the people who were already on a stampede. "Hey, watch it!!!" she yelled angrily when someone bumped against her and then accidentally stomped at her foot.

Then from behind her, somebody just grabbed her and covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming, but she bit her assailant's hand so it removed its hand from her mouth for a while, enough time to give her the chance to shriek.

Tifa and Vincent easily recognized the sound of the shriek… so did Lord Godo.

"Yuffie?" Lord Godo called out in sudden panic upon hearing his daughter scream.

Tifa moved away from Rufus and began to search in the crowd for her friend. Vincent was supposed to follow her but Sephiroth held him still. "Don't. If somebody sees your claw, we're dead." He warned.

Yuffie could not move anymore. She could feel more hands holding her and someone approached her and just blindfolded her while another one continued to cover her mouth. The next thing she felt was she was being dragged someplace else, plus some faint talking, "Where do we take her?"

"The Don's waiting in his limo." Another one said.

Yuffie's eyes widened behind the blindfold as she still continued to struggle. "NO!!! These are the Don's men!!!" she thought in horror.

Meanwhile, Tifa was still trying to find her way through the crowd in search for Yuffie. "Yuffie!!!" she called out.

No answer.

Her voice could easily be drowned by the shrieks and shouting of the crowds…

Then she saw Lord Godo also making his way through the crowd. "Yuffie? Yuffie? Yuffie where are you?" he was calling out loud rather desperately.

Tifa turned around to continue looking on her own, but she bumped against someone. It was Zack. He did not even look down at her, "Sorry, madam," he apologized before leaving her there and went for Lord Godo. He could easily squeeze his way through the crowd. "Sir!" he called out.

She saw Lord Godo's mouth move, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Zack suddenly looked more worried than usual and he began to frantically look around the ballroom… and then made his way through the crowd again, as if looking for something.

President ShinRa froze when somebody just yelled "AVALANCHE!!!!!!!!!!!"

The more people panicked.

"Shit… busted…" Sephiroth muttered.

Rufus's frown deepened before marching over to his father, "What? AVALANCHE? Where?" he asked innocently. "Are we being attacked?" he demanded from the Turks and the Executives. The Executives felt like shrinking. Rufus collared Heidegger, "You bloody oaf! Why aren't you doing anything?! Move it! Hunt those terrorists down!"

"Whoa," Sephiroth whispered to Vincent. "He's good at this acting stuff." Vincent nodded in response.

"Gyah! Yessir!" Heidegger made a run for it.

"What happened?! How could AVALANCHE go past the security?!" President ShinRa was yelling angrily.

"Hmf! Your surveillance system is such a failure, Old Man." Rufus said plainly as he raked his fingers through his hair while thinking quietly, "The explosion happened just in time before Old Man could announce my engagement to Tifa… Thank goodness…" He crossed his arms and showed a bratty pout to his father, "Hmf. This is very embarrassing to my future in-laws! All because of you and your stupid Executives, I might lose my Tifa!" he pointed out.

President ShinRa ignored Rufus' tantrum and faced Sephiroth and Vincent. "Mrs…" he began, but realized that he doesn't know the surname. He turned back to Reno, "Reno, you mentioned their surname--?"

Reno's eyes slightly widened. He forgot.

Tseng felt like shrinking.

Rufus swallowed hard. "Bloody brilliant…" he was thinking.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sephintine." Sephiroth mentioned.

Rufus and the Turks raised their eyebrows upon hearing that. Vincent wanted to pass out.

"Nice save," Rufus was thinking with a sly smile on his face before approaching his father and said, "Wouldn't it be lovely, _father_? Tifa Sephintine _hyphen_, ShinRa."

President ShinRa thought for a while. "Very good. Good enough for your image, son." He whispered. "Anyway, I have to apologize, Mr. and Mrs. Sephintine. Sorry for the commotion, I…" he began apologetically to the "couple" but Sephiroth spoke up with a strange accent, "Gah. It's alright. No harm done." And nudged Vincent, as if telling him to say something. Vincent jerked slightly before nodding his head. "Ohoho! President ShinRa, 'tis nothing. My daughter is such a patient child. She understands. Right, m'dear?" he asked in falsetto, turning to his side, but Tifa wasn't there anymore. "Oh dear… where's she?" he asked.

Just in time, Tifa returned with a worried look on her face. "Oh there you are, Tifa!" Vincent said.

President ShinRa just ignored them and turned to the rest of the executives and the Turks. "Spread out. Make sure the Soldiers are out there searching! And one of you, go to the Reactors! I'm sure those are what AVALANCHE came here for!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir!"


	7. Say Byebye to the Don!

They Live!!!

By: GQ & Zhak

Chapter Seven: Say "Bye-Bye" to the Don

Zack got out of the building and scanned the whole place. "Yuffie where are you?!" he thought in worry before he continued to search.

At the same moment that he was searching, Cloud, Aerith, Barret and Lucrecia were already on their way back to Sector 7. They just decided to walk because there was a massive blackout because of the explosions. A lot of people were on the streets wondering what has happened in ShinRa and what had caused the explosions.

The four were just quiet but pretending to be clueless as well.

Lucrecia carefully removed her mask but keeping her eyes on the ground. "I guess we won't be having electricity for around a week if ShinRa doesn't locate the back-up formula for temporary power." She said with a slight smile on her face.

"Why? What did you do in the laboratory anyway?" Aerith asked.

"Just deleted most of Hojo's files." Lucrecia told her with a smile on her face before patting the side of her dress. "But don't worry, I compressed everything and placed them in a disc as planned." She said reassuringly.

Barret felt pleased, "That's great! Does that mean we're in control?" he asked.

"Almost. Once you see the things I got, I think we can finally know what to do with them." Cloud told him with a serious look on his face.

They stopped in their tracks when they heard footsteps coming their way. All of them stared straight ahead. It was Zack running towards them.

"Izzat foo' again." Barret told his companions.

Lucrecia blinked. "Oh my… I thought he…" she trailed off when she sensed Aerith looking curiously at her, "Why?" the girl asked. Lucrecia swallowed hard.

Zack finally got to them and they stopped walking. He was panting hard and he had a very worried look on his face, "Have you seen Yuffie?" he asked.

"The last time I checked you were supposed to be her bodyguard." Cloud replied rather stiffly before moving ahead.

"Cloud, what's wrong with you?" Aerith asked before turning back to Zack with an apologetic smile on her face, "I'm sorry, but we haven't. Why? What's going on?" she asked.

Cloud stopped in his tracks and turned back to them.

Zack was trying to catch his breath before replying, "I think she's missing… Lord Godo heard her scream but… we don't really know where she is…" he bit his lower lip while scratching his head.

"Shit… what if something happened to her?" Barret asked in sudden confusion.

"Damn, I hope not! I'll be such a failure if that happens!" Zack told them before waving goodbye and then ran off again.

Aerith turned to Lucrecia, "What is going on? How come you all seem to act so distant from him?" she asked in confusion.

"Because he's the reason why we're all feeling so weak, that's why! If he didn't tag along with us, we'd all be in our best condition!" Lucrecia snapped impatiently as she threw her mask down to the ground in an annoyed manner.

"Wh…what?" Barret asked.

"It's true! He and President ShinRa… the two of them… plus the Don and Hojo… the four of them!!! It's only supposed to be us without those four… but Zack wouldn't let Aerith go!" she explained before walking away. Cloud felt so mortified, his mouth slightly open as a reaction. Aerith frowned and went after her. "Well it isn't my fault if he's still holding on! I already told him the truth but he would not listen; that's why I just told myself that he just needs some time to think about things! He kept on accusing Cloud of _stealing_ his identity and I hate it!" she snapped.

"Hey, will you just save your arguments for later?" Barret demanded.

"No, I'd like to settle this now!" Aerith snapped at him before going after Lucrecia. "And please don't hide the fact that your son made him go away." She told her.

"Yes I am not hiding the fact that Sephiroth doesn't like Zack because the guy wants you back for himself; and you know how over-protective Sephiroth is to you because you've been like a younger sister to him while we were still spirits in the Lifestream…" Lucrecia told her before looking at Cloud. "Look at him now… that guy mourned for you." She said softly.

Aerith just bowed down her head.

"And the mere fact that Zack is also here is making him worried that you might not accept him anymore… because he is just… Cloud with Zack's memories, thanks to Hojo." Lucrecia continued.

Cloud just turned and walked away from them, leaving them with Barret. "I'll go ahead," he muttered.

Aerith and Lucrecia just stood still for several moments without saying anything until they noticed a black limo coming their way, its headlights flashed twice as a warning and the horn honking. The two instantly stepped aside from the pathway to give way to the limo.

The limo sped up and went on going to the direction of Sector 5.

"The elites are really panicking," Barret said as he went to Aerith. "Let's just go home, ya two." He told her and Lucrecia. Lucrecia looked back at the ShinRa HQ before agreeing to go with Aerith and Barret. While on their way to Sector 7, Aerith said, "Aren't we going to help Yuffie?"

Barret stopped in his tracks. "Oh yeah… forgot about that…" he muttered. "But Marlene doesn't have anyone with her at home!" he pointed out.

"Aerith and I are going to look for her. Just go home." Lucrecia offered before taking Aerith's hand and led the way towards the other direction.

Cloud rounded a corner and was surprised to see a speeding black limousine. He instantly stopped on his tracks before it could run over him just in case he continued to walk down the street. "Ass…" he thought silently before looking at the direction where the black limo had come from, and saw Zack running towards him. "What now?" Cloud was thinking quietly.

Zack finally approached him, "Cloud, I'm so glad to see you!" he told him.

Cloud just kept quiet as Zack tried to catch his breath and laughed weakly, "Silly of me to be chasing that black car… heheh. Can you help me?" he asked.

"What for?" Cloud asked.

"I think the Don might have something to do with Yuffie's disappearance. I think that's his limo that's why I'm following it." Zack explained.

Cloud thought for a while before shrugging, "Knowing that lecherous old geezer, he's heading for the Honeybee Inn." He said.

Zack's eyes widened. "Honeybee Inn?" he asked.

"C'mon," Cloud told him before leading the way to a shortcut.

The moment Vincent and Sephiroth stepped out of the ShinRa HQ, they instantly withdrew from one another. "Man… my right hand and arm got sweaty just holding on to your claw!" Sephiroth told him.

Tifa took a deep breath before turning to face the two, "I'm worried about Yuffie. Can't we go look for her first?" she asked.

"In this kind of attire? I don't think so." Vincent told her, feeling rather embarrassed about his gown. Tifa giggled. "Alright, we'll go home first and then we'll look for her. It's quite dangerous if we roam around wearing these… we might get busted." She told them.

"Where would Yuffie go anyway? Isn't it that Zack's her bodyguard?" Sephiroth asked as they went on their way back to Sector 7.

"Hey!!!" they heard someone yelling from behind them. The three of them stopped in their tracks and slowly turned around. There was Elena running towards them.

"Elena?" Tifa asked, wanting to be sure. It was really dark in the streets and the full moon was their only light.

Elena stopped running when she reached them. "Hi!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Why? Is there a problem?" Sephiroth asked.

"N…no. But Rufus wants me to give this to you guys. You left before he could even talk to you again." Elena said before pulling out a check from her pocket and handed it to Tifa. "Here you go! A check worth 2 million Gil." She said softly, careful not to let any other people hear her.

Tifa gasped as she got the check and stared unbelievably at it. It was signed by Rufus himself. "Oh my… this is too much!" she told her.

"Yeah, but that's how he really is… he could be generous if you get on his good side. Heehee! Oh yeah, and this one too…" Elena pulled out a small jewelry box from her other pocket and handed it secretly to Tifa while Vincent and Sephiroth were not looking. "It's a personal gift from him to you to show his gratitude. He says you're a very good actress and that he might drop by your bar one night when he's not doing anything and that he's looking forward to drinking your Final Heaven once more… whatever that is," she whispered to an overwhelmed Tifa.

Tifa clutched the jewel box with her hand and placed it inside her purse. "Th…thank you. Please tell him that." She told her with a weak smile on her face.

"What's that?" Sephiroth asked, moving closer to her. She handed the check to Sephiroth. "Here, keep this and give it to Barret once we reach home." She told him before stepping aside.

"By the way, Lord Godo was talking to President ShinRa; he reported that his daughter is missing!" Elena told them.

"So Yuffie's really missing," Sephiroth said plainly before shrugging and then turned to Tifa, "Got any guesses on who would kidnap her?" he asked.

"How'd you know she's been kidnapped?" Vincent asked.

"Just a hunch. The Don was missing when we left… and usually he'd hang out with the President after every party. The two are close… and I thought I overheard them discussing something about grabbing the daughter of Lord Godo…" he explained.

"WHAT?! So you knew all along?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Tifa demanded in shock.

"I didn't know that Lord Godo is Yuffie's dad!" he replied with a defensive tone.

"Oh no… and to think that that old geezer's had his eyes on Yuffie the first time he got us!" Elena said in shock.

"Damn… we'd better hurry!" Tifa said before leading the way to the slums.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!!!" Elena said, running after her.

"Let's go, Vinny," Sephiroth said before running after the girls. Vincent rolled his eyes and took off his high heels before proceeding to run after them. "Bloody brilliant… wait up!" he called out with an annoyed look on his face.

Rufus was just following after his father along with Scarlet and they were headed to the 70th floor. "Those AVALANCHE members… they're really going to pay big time!!!" President ShinRa snapped angrily as he continued to climb up the stairs. "Blasted! How are the generators? Don't tell me they busted those too?" he demanded.

"The back-up power supply's been damaged too, sir… Kyah…" Scarlet replied with a tired tone. She had been running around in circles trying to determine what happened to the power supply, and when Hojo had figured out what happened, the President had already lost his patience.

"Seriously, _father_, how can you locate AVALANCHE when in the past, you had such a hard time finishing them off?" Rufus asked with a sly smile on his face.

"I'll bombard the slums with deadly gas and biological weapons! That should do it!" the President replied.

"What gas? You'll fart at their faces?" Rufus asked mockingly.

"OH YOU KNOW?!!!" the President snapped impatiently. He stopped to catch his breath because he had been climbing up the stairs for the last 30 minutes from the 2nd floor. "What's the matter, _father_, are you getting too old to climb up these stairs?" Rufus asked. He was also tired but he simply enjoyed mocking his father.

"Shut up, son." President ShinRa replied angrily before he heard his mobile phone ringing. He got it from his pocket and answered the call, "Yeah? Corneo?"

The voice of the Don was very loud, and since the whole area was quiet, Rufus and Scarlet were also able to hear it. "Yeowza!!! Thanks for the help. I already paid your SOLDIERs who helped me get the girl. We're at the Honeybee Inn already."

President ShinRa smiled proudly, "Of course. You're always welcome, my good friend. And by the way, her father, Lord Godo, asked me about her. I said I don't know a thing and didn't notice anything. I told him I'd look for his daughter…" and he laughed.

Rufus's frown deepened upon hearing that.

Scarlet waited until the call was over and asked the President, "So you know something about Yuffie Kisaragi's disappearance?"

"Duh." The President said before proceeding up the stairs. Scarlet followed after him, but Rufus just remained on his place. "Rufus," he called out impatiently.

"Why do you need me up there? Just go check your office by yourself. I'm tired." Rufus snapped impatiently before proceeding down the stairs again going to the floor where his bedroom is located.

Once he reached his room, he locked the door and got his mobile phone, dialing Cloud's number.

Cloud's mobile phone began to vibrate inside his pocket, surprising him. He carefully got it and answered it with a whispery tone, careful not to get busted since he and Zack are passing through a dangerous alley near a gangsters' hideout being lit by torches. "Rufus?" he asked.

"Yuffie's with the Don. He asked some of Old Man's SOLDIERs to kidnap the girl. They're at the Honeybee Inn now." Rufus told him.

Cloud raised his eyebrows. "Gee, thanks. We're just about to go there now. How'd you know?" he asked.

"The Don called my Old Man informing him about it. Hurry up before it's too late," Rufus told him before hanging up.

Cloud placed his mobile phone again in his pocket and proceeded.

"Who was that?" Zack asked.

"Rufus. Yuffie's really at the Honeybee Inn with the Don." Cloud replied. Zack felt disgusted. "That's so gross!" was his initial reaction to what Cloud had mentioned.

"What's gross? Yuffie? Rufus? The Don? Or the Honeybee Inn?" Cloud asked mindlessly.

"Actually, the last two you mentioned." Zack muttered.

They stopped in their tracks when they heard some rustling coming from ahead of them… and to their surprise, the gangsters just popped out from the shadows.

"Got your Buster Sword with you?" Cloud asked him with a frown on his face as he eyed the gangsters. There were around 10 of them… and he knows that there are more.

"Of course," Zack told him before pulling out his weapon. "What about you?" he asked.

Cloud got his Ultima Weapon and prepared for combat. Zack was stunned to see Cloud with another weapon other than a Buster Sword.

"I don't have a Buster Sword." Cloud told him with a stiff tone before he proceeded to attack…

Yuffie woke up.

"OH MY GAWD!" she screeched as soon as she saw Don Corneo's horrible, fat, pudgy, old face leering over her.

"Hey hey hey, honey! You had a good dream?" the Don asked her while doing some sort of happy dance. Kind of like the jig.

Yuffie's mouth was still hanging open. She scooted as far away from the old man as she could. "Where-where-where am I?" she stammered, still kind of freaked out.

"Ah… we're in the best room in the Inn, girl!" he replied with a glint of malice in his eyes.

"Best… room?" She certainly didn't like the sound of that.

Don Corneo looked over to one of the SOLDIERs guarding the room. "You. Tell her what this room is."

"Sure. The #$% Room," the guard replied. The other guards laughed like a bunch of perverts.

Yuffie just kept quiet, eyeing each of them carefully. "Hmf. I can remember your faces easily. I can just report you to President ShinRa!" she snapped.

"Like he will fire us? He hired us for this," one of the guards told her with a mocking tone.

"WHAT?! But…" she trailed off. She growled. "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!!! Once a rat, always a rat! UGH! And to think my dad _trusted_ that old geezer already?!" she thought angrily before turning to the Don. "As for you," she slowly got up and tried to get her shurikens quickly but discreetly from under her gown's skirts but she realized that they were not there anymore.

Don Corneo cleared his throat, catching her attention before showing to her the shuriken blades. She shrieked, "YOU!!! YOU LIFTED MY SKIRT AND GOT THOSE?!"

"Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk," he laughed gaily.

Her face was undeniably red already… and she was really steaming mad already. "I'm going to MURDER you!!!!!" Yuffie snapped angrily before grabbing a flower vase and smashed it against the wall. She grabbed one of the shards and held it like a dagger as she approached the Don, not caring if the SOLDIERs were already aiming at her.

The Don felt nervous. "Eh… I…" he began.

"How dare you! You have desecrated me!!! I'm supposed to give up my chastity to the man I love and I don't love you!!!" she snarled before she attempted to stab him, but heard the sound of the guns clicking. She froze.

The Don, upon seeing Yuffie recoiling from the sounds of the guns, regained his composure and smiled lustily. "Oh, don't worry… you're still chaste… well, at least for _now… _if you know what I mean," Don Corneo said, winking.

She frowned, but slowly dropped the hand that still clutched the flower vase shard. "Bastard," she muttered with contempt. Then, she stood up straighter. "Don't think I'll be that easy to get! I'm not some helpless, pansy princess who doesn't know how to fight!"

"Hahaha! That's a good one! Then why does Daddy have to get you a bodyguard, eh? And how come I managed to kidnap you not once, but twice? Too bad, though," Don Corneo said smugly, drumming his fingertips against each other, "No Turk's gonna come rescue now… And especially no more of those _annoying _AVALANCHE members… for all I know, those good-for-nothing terrorists are having a party right now since they managed to blow up all of those reactors… Sheesh, if they only knew that blowing up those things actually made kidnapping you a whoooole lot easier! Hyuk hyuk hyuk!!!" The Don's big round belly bounced as he guffawed boorishly. "Too bad, eh? The porcupinish bodyguard ain't here to protect the liddle pwincess! Boo hoo hoo!"

Yuffie wanted to strangle the Don, but she figured that she'd already be shot in the head by the time the pig suffocated. She chose instead to remain calm and unafraid.

"Speechless, huh? Well, if you'd just be a good girl, it would make things easier for the both of us… and Wutai, even, if I feel like it. Hyuk hyuk!" Don Corneo approached her slowly. She backed away, but the guards gave her a threatening look. Any more wrong moves and they won't hesitate to blow her brains out.

"So, what do you say, Yuffie? This isn't just about you or me… it's for the good of your country too! Well, mostly, it's about me, since you jerks kinda KILLED ME just because I thought you were saucy and a lot more attractive than that blondie…" the fat man said.

Yuffie's resolve diminished. "OH MY GAWD, WHY ME?!?!" she yelled desperately.

"Hyuk hyuk! That's more like it! C'mon! Show a bit more action! More drama!" The Don said, starting to hop over to her.

Her eyes widened in both horror and disgust. She jumped back a couple of feet away from him. "Get away from me, you pig! You probably smell like one, too! GROSSNESS!"

"Ha haa! C'mon! I like it when the girls play hard to get!" He hopped again towards her. The guards were beginning to snicker.

Yuffie felt like crying… but she knew she should be strong and never ever let the old geezer get his way. She just scratched her head annoyingly and sat down on the bed again, crossing her arms, but her "weapon" was still in her grasp. "Hmf… don't you dare come closer or else I'm really going to stab on your jugular vein!" she sneered warningly, keeping her eyes off him. She couldn't stand staring at his ugly face and his ugly features… they were enough to make her barf.

The Don wailed in disappointment, "Awww, come on?!" he approached her, but she got up again and moved away from him, showing to him the glass shard. He stepped away before going to one of the guards with a frustrated look on her face. She swallowed hard; she could tell that they're starting to device a plan to maybe deceive her or something… "Oh GAWD!!! I hope daddy or Zack notices that I'm gone…" she stopped when she realized what she had just thought of. She lowered her gaze to the floor with a sad look on her face, "What am I thinking? Zack's not going to rescue me… he's more concerned with _Aerith_. Hmf." She pounded frustratingly on the wall with the glass shard still in her right hand's grasp… and didn't realize that she had hurt herself, even when her palm began to bleed. "As if my Old Man could do something about it… President ShinRa's involved in this so I'm sure even if he asks help from that President, he wouldn't give a shit about it…" she thought miserably. "I guess it's all up to me… I just hope I'm fast enough so that those damn SOLDIERs will not be able to shoot my brains off," she thought as she slowly raised her right hand… and that's when she realized that she was already bleeding badly. "GAWDS!!!" was her initial reaction as she dropped the bloody glass shard on the floor and stared horribly at her bleeding balm. "Wha… what… what happened?" she asked out loud.

Don Corneo began to panic while the SOLDIERs stared unbelievably at her bleeding hand. "Oh no… shall I call an ambulance, my dear?" he asked as he attempted to go to her, but she slapped his face with her bleeding hand… and he just snapped. "I'm getting impatient, my dear!!!" and dove onto her. She screamed.

"Shit!" Zack cussed angrily as he increased his speed in running towards the Inn when he heard her scream. Cloud's frown just deepened. He reluctantly raced Zack towards the Inn.

"Oh no! What if… what if he's already started doing things to her?! Lord Godo will kill me!" Zack said in panic.

Cloud stopped running and just let Zack go ahead inside the Inn. "I'm coming, Yuffie!!!" he called out which made Cloud imagine that he's like a super hero who's going to rescue a damsel in distress. He just bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing at Zack. "Super Zack. Heheh. Sounds cheesy." He thought as he finally neared the Inn. He just stood by the doorway of the main entrance, listening to the sounds of commotion. To his surprise and amusement, he heard Zack yelling, "Let the girl go!"

And Yuffie was like, "Zack?!" in a surprised manner.

"Yuffie, are you alright?" he heard Zack say.

"Yeah but…" Yuffie began.

"Don't worry, I'll save you!!!" Zack told her and the next thing Cloud heard were gunshots and screams of pain and agony from SOLDIERs, then some screeches (courtesy of Yuffie) and something like, "EW! GROSSNESS!" and "OH MY GAWD!!!" and then Zack saying, "ARGH! So unfair! Why'd you do that?" and the sound of hacking.

Cloud scratched his head before leaning against the doorway. "I guess my help isn't needed here anymore," he thought to himself before turning away, but he saw Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent, Aerith, Lucrecia and Elena coming. He stared at them curiously, "Oh you guys are too late," he told them.

They stopped running. Aerith gasped. "You mean… Yuffie's…"

Sephiroth continued for her, "…dead?"

Silence.

"How could you say that?!" Lucrecia wailed, spanking his butt.

Sephiroth just stood still, trying not to mind the pain. "Ow… mom… why'd you have to spank me in front of my friends and random passersby?" he muttered to her.

She just ignored him and went over to the door and peeked inside. "What's going on?" she asked.

"No need to look, Lucrecia," Cloud told her.

"Why? What happened to Yuffie?" Tifa asked as she approached. Cloud noticed that they weren't in ball gowns and tuxedos anymore. "You all went home before going here?" he asked.

"Yeah, we thought you'd go home too." Aerith told him.

"Vincent wouldn't go here in a gown. It'd be too awkward… besides, if anybody saw me wearing a gown and then seeing me with you AVALANCHE members, they'll inform the President and then we're gonna be busted. Rufus is not going to like that." Tifa told him.

They all were silent as they stared at Tifa. She just raised her eyebrow at them. "What?" she asked.

"N…nothing." Sephiroth replied before he turned back to the doorway. "What's going on in there anyway?" he asked.

CRASH. BAM. POW. CLUNK.

"Ow! So unfair!" Zack yelled from inside.

Then silence.

"Are they alright?" Tifa asked.

"I guess so." Cloud said as he finally decided to step inside. The whole lobby was dark because of the blackout, but the #$% room was candle-lit inside, so he easily located it. He and the others went there and were not surprised to see the big mess.

"Whoa," Sephiroth reacted with an amazed look on his face.

Aerith cringed at the sight of dead SOLDIERs on the floor… and the blood on the walls, the door and basically all over the place.

Yuffie was seated in one place, looking so pale and hugging her knees. She was crying already. "Yuffie," Aerith began as she pushed Cloud aside who was blocking the doorway and rushed to Yuffie, but before she could get to her, Zack went ahead and knelt down before the injured girl. "Are you alright?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

Cloud stepped inside the room and gazed around. "Quite a big mess you made, Zack. You did this by yourself?"

Yuffie sniffled as Zack knelt before her. "Is… is he dead yet?!" she shouted in between sobs.

Zack scratched his head. "W-ell… I'm sure I hit him on the head at least once. It was kind of hard fighting in the dark…" he answered uneasily. While he was talking, she slowly lifted her gaze at Aerith and eyed her rather… hurtfully. Aerith moved away, recognizing the dagger looks. Tifa had once given her that kind of look waaaay back, also at the same place, but she did not really mind it although it hurt her feelings… but at that moment, when Yuffie gave her the same look, it somewhat hurt _more_ than Tifa's. Aerith just bowed down her head, looking away from her and then walking to Tifa, "Let's just go. I don't think we're still needed here. Zack can take care of Yuffie all by himself." She said simply, puzzling Tifa and the rest.

Sephiroth just eyed Zack with an apathetic look on his face before turning to the Don who was starting to move again and struggling to crawl towards one of the dead SOLDIERs on the floor to get a gun. "You… you…" he struggled to say. Sephiroth instantly went to the Don, unsheathed the Masamune and pointed it threateningly at his face. "Don't do anything stupid," he said.

The Don squeaked. "Wha… what are you gonna do to me?!"

Everyone in the room turned to them. Yuffie in particular gave the old man a very scathing look.

"Somebody kill him…" Zack muttered before he carried Yuffie in his arms and got up, going to the door. Sephiroth frowned at him and snapped, "Where do you think you're going, Soldier? You aren't leaving me with your dirty work."

Zack stopped in his tracks.

"Do it yourself, boy," Sephiroth said, striding towards the outside of the #$% Room. "Let's go, guys."

As he exited, the others looked warily at Yuffie and Zack, then to the Don, who seemingly lay shivering on the floor, all bloodied. They silently followed Sephiroth outside. "Well… all yours, Zack," Cloud muttered before completely leaving the room.

The door slammed. Yuffie, who was looking wide-eyed at her friends walk out one by one, shook her head in disbelief and hopped off of Zack's arms.

She opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, but she froze when she heard light, clicking sounds. "What the…" she trailed off. They both turned to the Don. There was a light glow from where he was lying…

Unbeknownst to them, Don Corneo, who had been lying on his side and trying his hardest not to move, managed to get a hold of a PHS. _Help thye catght me send bacj-up quick… _he desperately clicked the buttons in the phone, messily composing the SMS message.

"What are you doing?!" Zack ran to him.

In time, he pressed the "Send" button to President ShinRa. As Zack came from behind him, he dropped the phone. "Hah! Too late, porcupine boy!" he piped up. "They'll be here in no time! And boy, will you be in trouble! Hyuk hyuk!"

The ex-SOLDIER picked up the phone and read the messy text. _$%… _he thought to himself.

"Zack, what did he do?" Yuffie asked curiously.

He didn't answer; he just grabbed her hand and started running. "What?! What?!" Yuffie asked frantically.

"We're in trouble," he replied, zooming through the hallways of the HoneyBee Inn, occasionally bumping into old businessmen and a few young girls they picked. He finally saw the exit from the Inn. _We have to get out of here before… _

Too late. By the time they got outside, there were already many troops of SOLDIERs with their guns raised…

Fortunately, Cloud and the others were already battling them.

"Yah!" Yuffie exclaimed. A few SOLDIERs managed to break through the Cloud party and started to go after the two.

"Damn, they sure are fast!" Zack yelled. "Uh… maybe there's a backdoor… we could escape there…" he said before pulling Yuffie again by the hand.

"Slow down, you klutz! I'm in high heels, remember?!" Yuffie screeched as they zoomed through the hallways again, the two goonies hot on their heels.

A few bullets zoomed by Zack's ear. "They're shooting at us, dammit! We have to run!" he yelled back.

"But, my feet are killing me! I'll trip any second now!!!" she whined as she felt her feet experience, well, hell.

"ARGH! Fine!" Zack said, and in one swoop, he managed to carry Yuffie in his arms as they were running. The ninja in the gown yelped in surprise. "AH! CAREFUL!!!" she said, whacking him on the head.

"OW!" Zack said, flinching. He flinched even more when one of the SOLDIERs chasing them started laughing at him. "Hey?! Why the heck are you laughing at me, you…"

_"SHIVA!"_

A sudden blast of wind and ice shards from beyond the doorway knocked all of them off their feet, and of course, stopped Zack from finishing his statement. Apparently, somebody from the outside had summoned Shiva while the door was open…

"YAAAAAH!" Zack, Yuffie and the two SOLDIERs screamed in unison.

They landed unceremoniously in a heap on the floor. Zack must have taken in most of the ice shards ("SO UNFAIR!" screamed Zack), because one of the nameless SOLDIERs stood up and grabbed Yuffie while he was off-guard. "Hah-hah! Caught the girl! Now what are ya gonna do, Flaky?" the SOLDIER insulted.

Zack twitched. "_Flaky_?" he thought silently, remembering the red porcupine from _The Happy Tree Friends_. Annoyed, he got his buster sword… wrong move.

Another SOLDIER pointed a bayonet against Yuffie's head. "Nah-uh, Zack." The SOLDIER said. Zack was surprised. "How'd you know my name?" he asked, thinking that that SOLDIER could be one of his comrades from before.

"Are you stupid? You're wearing a nametag!"

Zack face-faulted and looked down the right part of his tux. Sure enough, he _was _wearing a nametag; he'd forgotten to take it off when he ran off from the party. It had little pictures of balloons and confetti for borders and it said, "Hi! My name is Zack! J"

Yuffie, together with the other SOLDIERs tried to stop herself from laughing. Zack stomped his foot impatiently. "It's not funny, you guys! How come I'm the only one who has a nametag and _you_ don't?!" he demanded from her.

"I don't know… maybe they were making fun of you?" she asked.

Silence.

"IT'S SO UNFAIR!" Zack wailed.

Silence.

Yuffie face-faulted. "Uhm… Zack," she said, referring to the bayonet by looking at it.

Zack blinked. "Oh…" he said softly before regaining his super-hero-like composure and pointed his Buster Sword at the SOLDIERs. "Unhand her, you heartless fiends!" he said in a very manly tone.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow together with the other SOLDIERs. "Gah…" she reacted in disbelief.

"Hahah. As if you can do something now…" Don Corneo said as he hobbled going to Yuffie. Zack sneered at him, "You're still alive?"

"Well you weren't able to kill me while you had the chance. And now you're going to wish you did. Hyuk, hyuk…" From inside his jacket, he pulled out a handgun. He raised it and pointed it at Yuffie's head. "Move and she gets it." He clicked it for an added effect.

_Oh no… _Zack told himself as he desperately racked his brain for a way to get out of this one. _If only I'm agile enough… I could stab him before he gets smart… _he frustratingly thought to himself.

Yuffie was getting irritated by the minute. Not only were her heels killing her, she was, once again, the damsel in distress. Complete with the pretty gown and make-up, too. _This is embarrassing…!! That's it, I'm taking action! _She thought angrily to herself as she elbowed Don Corneo's gut. He yelped and fell on the floor, writhing.

Before the SOLDIERs or Zack could act, she had successfully kicked him in the nuts and was already kicking him everywhere else. "H-halt!" one of the SOLDIERs yelled at her, pointing his gun at her warningly. She didn't—she used the stilettos on her feet again to kick the bayonet out of the SOLDIER's grasp. She caught the weapon successfully in her hands, then shot the other SOLDIER's leg. He gasped and clutched his leg in pain.

"Anything else, weasel-face?!" she growled. The SOLDIER shrank back.

_Whoa, _Zack thought, his eyes wide with surprise. _Impressive._

"H-hey?! We were just f-following orders! Don't kill us!" the guy answered, raising his hands in the air.

"Fine… I'll just… incapacitate you. HA!" Yuffie cried, gunning his leg. The SOLDIER fell next to his comrade, both of them whimpering in pain.

"MAN! That felt _soooo_good, shooting those annoying SOLDIERs…! I never used a gun this size before…" She rejoiced. "Who's the one in distress now? Not me, that's fer shore! Hahahah!"

Zack was still stunned by her sudden outburst. "Yuffie… that was…"

"No time for talk now, Zack! Finish him off," she snapped. "… or are you gonna let him get away again?"


	8. The Aftermath and President ShinRa's Wra...

They Live!!!

By: GQ and Zhak

Chapter Eight: The Aftermath and President ShinRa's Wrath

President ShinRa locked his PHS. His frown had deepened; he just received an SMS from the Captain of the troops he sent to Sector 5. _AVALANCHE escaped. Found Don Corneo dead inside. No sign of Lord Godo's daughter… _

"How disappointing. It seems that AVALANCHE had gone through our fingers again…" he sighed, rotating his chair to face the person sitting by his desk. "Well, Rufus… what can you say about this situation?"

Rufus, his arms crossed, said nothing.

"Very well," President ShinRa began as he stood up. "I am not so sure if you're concerned at all about AVALANCHE, Rufus… although you put up quite a show earlier this evening…"

His son snorted. "You aren't very observant to begin with, Father. If you were, you would have found out that they were already having punch with us at the party… and would have eliminated them immediately, preventing this whole mess to commence…"

"Still a spoiled brat, blaming ShinRa for the messes happening in your life. Well, son, if you claim to know better, I think you ought to help Heidegger in planning on how to capture them."

Rufus froze.

President ShinRa noted his silence and smiled smugly. "Well, sonny boy? You wanted so much to see AVALANCHE captured. I'm letting you help out. Why so quiet? You should be happy," he said.

Tifa opened the doors to her 7th Heaven Bar. "Okay, everyone… get inside and sit down…"

They stumbled in the bar, mumbling to themselves and found themselves seats. Tifa went behind the bar; Sephiroth, Vincent, Lucrecia, Elena and Barret sat on the stools; Cloud and Aerith sat in a booth.

"Whew! Glad that's over… it's so much fun fighting with you guys! Heehee!" Elena said, giggling.

"Aren't you going to go back to ShinRa HQ? They might be looking for the missing Turk…" Tifa asked, getting a few glasses and filling them with water.

The blonde shook her head. "Not now… a few SOLDIERs escaped and, you know, they saw me. I called up Reno and told him to make up something… if they see me like this—you know, all bloody and sweaty and stuff—they might think I fought with you guys, and that isn't a good thing…"

Sephiroth grabbed one of the glasses and swallowed the water in one gulp. "Ahh… yeah, you're right. We have to lay low for a few days…"

"But… how about the bar?" Tifa asked. "I can't just close it indefinitely…"

Suddenly, Marlene burst out of one of the doors and ran towards Barret. "Papa! Papa!" She ran a bit more and jumped into Barret's arms.

"Hey, hey, kiddo! What up?" he asked, patting her head.

"I did a drawing for school," she answered gleefully, holding up a messy drawing of what looked like a big brown bear with a round thing for a hand. "They told us to draw our parents, so that's you there, Papa! Heehee!" she said proudly.

Sephiroth and Cloud snickered upon seeing the drawing. Barret forced a smile at Marlene. "Aw, Marlene, that's great! Great, yeah, that drawin's gonna be the number one in yow class!" Then he faced Sephiroth and Cloud, giving them a _look. 'You foo's are gonna get it later…' _

"You're gonna take me to school tomorrow, Papa?" the little girl suddenly asked.

Barret froze. "Oh no." he said. He turned to the others. "I can't take Marlene to school tomorrow. They might catch me and then it's gonna be all messy. Tifa can't too…" he told them rather worriedly.

"But… who is going to take me to school?" Marlene asked.

They were silent for a few moments before Sephiroth volunteered, "I think I can… take her to school tomorrow." He said rather sheepishly while keeping his eyes on the ground. Lucrecia smiled proudly at her son and gave him a tight embrace, "Oh my dear Sephiroth! I never knew you loved children?!" she exclaimed happily.

"Yes, maybe in the future you're gonna have _five_ of them! Heehee!" Aerith pointed out rather jokingly.

Sephiroth just raised an eyebrow at her, "Uh… right." He said.

"Isn't five too many?" Vincent asked innocently as he watched Sephiroth struggle to break free from his mother's grasp, "Uh… mom… please, not in front of my friends…" Sephiroth muttered to Lucrecia.

"Since when did I become your friend?" Cloud asked haughtily with a teasing look on his face. Sephiroth just made a face at him.

Marlene jumped up and down before running to Sephiroth, "Oh thank you, _Uncle_ Sephiroth! Heehee!" she said gaily as she jumped onto his lap and hugged him.

Barret felt rather alarmed that his daughter is seated on the lap of their former enemy; the most dangerous man on the Planet… but Vincent patted his back with his left claw, making clunking noises against his spine and hurting him slightly. "There, there, Barret. We all know now that Sephiroth is a good boy, right Lucrecia?" he asked, turning to Lucrecia.

"Ya foo'! Stop it. Yer hurtin' mah back! Y' gonna break mah spine?!" Barret snapped as he moved away from him. "I think I'm-a-go outside for a while. It's damn borin' in here when there's no television." He said before proceeding to the door.

They almost forgot that there's still no electricity because of what happened, but in Sector 1, the ShinRa Electric Power Company is finally able to a find temporary source of energy, so the Elites already have electricity running through their households.

"Well at least it's… cool in this place," Cloud said flatly, although the snow was really falling hard and they really needed a heater. "Tonight's Christmas Eve, what are you planning to do?" Aerith asked them before she got up.

"What? Today's the 24th? Whoa… almost forgot…" Tifa reacted in shock.

"And you still had school today? That's so unfair!" Lucrecia told Marlene with a pitiful look on her face. "Well, that's the public school system in Midgar." Vincent told her.

"But you still have school tomorrow?" Lucrecia asked the little girl. The little girl nodded. "Because the president says so." She said.

Silence.

"Oh-kay… who wants Turkey for dinner?" Aerith asked, wanting to change the subject because she believes in the happy holiday spirit and doesn't want it to get ruined by the mere mention of anything bad against ShinRa.

"We'll have _Turk_ey, alright," Sephiroth said with a sly smile on his face while eyeing Elena from head to toe. She just stuck out her tongue at him and crossed her arms, turning away. Then her facial expression changed from annoyed to disappointed. She sighed. "I'm going to miss the others… especially R…" she stopped when she realized that Sephiroth was listening attentively to her. "Oh yes, I remember when I was still working in ShinRa, there are Turk Holiday Rituals before the 25th because during the 25th, it's your vacation, right?" he asked.

"Well… we used to have vacations, but ever since the First Lady left us, President ShinRa has been the meanest boss ever." Elena told them.

"By the way, you're saying something about missing _R_? Who's that R?" Tifa asked as she moved closer to Elena but hugging herself because it was becoming really cold.

"Oh nothing." Elena said sheepishly.

"Rufus." Cloud pointed out.

"No." Elena replied seriously.

Lucrecia snickered, "Oh don't tell me it's _Reeve_?!" she demanded.

"OH YUCK!!! Yuck!!! GROSSNESS!!!" Elena exclaimed.

Silence.

"Speaking of Grossness; where's that stubborn friend of yours?" Sephiroth asked them, turning to Cloud.

Cloud just shrugged. "I don't know… maybe she's still with Zack." He muttered mindlessly before he got up and proceeded upstairs. "I'll just get my jacket." He told them.

"Why's she with Zack anyway?" Aerith asked.

"Yuffie told Barret, who told me, that he was hired by Lord Godo to be Yuffie's bodyguard. They say that Lord Godo found him walking naked outside Wutai…" he explained blankly.

Aerith stopped. "I think I'm gonna pass out…" she said before walking away, going to the kitchen. Sephiroth just laughed hysterically. Lucrecia frowned at him, "I told you not make him suffer!" she scolded.

"I didn't punish him. I just removed his clothes and gave those to a hobo sitting outside the hospital and begging for alms." He pointed out with a funny look on his face.

"You have a lot to learn, dear…" she muttered in disbelief. "Face it, your son's evil…" she thought silently to herself.

"Tifa, some help here please!" Aerith called out from the kitchen. Tifa took a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was already 5:30 in the afternoon. She got up, shivering. "Alright…" she said softly before rushing to the kitchen.

_Wutai_…

Going back to Wutai, Lord Godo just requested for a helicopter so that the trip would be "safer" and quicker. His daughter is too stressed out and all she wanted to do was to get home as fast as she could… and stay away from Midgar _for good_.

Lord Godo was proud of Zack for taking too much time and effort to protect Yuffie and make sure she's safe from the hands of the disgusting Don Corneo. Lord Godo also vowed to never ever trust the President again no matter what happens. He looked over to the back of the chopper, where Yuffie was napping and covered in blankets. Her head was resting on Zack's lap; and Lord Godo twitched slightly upon seeing such a "horrible" sight. But Zack doesn't seem to mind since he was asleep himself. "They must be really tired because of what happened last night." He thought silently to himself before turning to the Pilot. "Are we there yet?" he asked.

"Yes sir. About to land." The pilot replied.

As soon as they landed, Zack instantly woke up. Lord Godo announced, "We're home!" Zack smiled slightly that his master sounded pleased. With that, he gently shook the sleeping young lady's shoulder, "Hey, Yuffie," he began. But Lord Godo stopped him, "Nah. She's too tired. Just carry her." He instructed. Zack nodded politely and did as he was told to do so.

While carrying Yuffie to her room, a lot of thoughts were going around his mind…

_"I don't want to go back here anymore," Yuffie muttered while looking outside the window of her hotel room when it was already time to leave._

_"Why?" Zack asked as he picked up her suitcase and handed it to the bellboy._

_"This city is so ugly." She replied stiffly before looking at her bandaged right hand. "And it just left a mark of its ugliness in me. GAWDS! This is so…" she trailed off and just sighed heavily. "Never mind." She muttered before turning to him. "Get my jacket. It's snowing hard outside," she instructed._

_"It's with your dad already." He told her._

_She just walked over to him._

_"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your friends?" Zack asked._

_"What for?" she asked. But deep inside, she was thinking, "If I go there, he'll just tag along and then Aerith will be there and… damn! Why the hell do I bother?!" she just scratched her head impatiently. "Besides, we almost died last night and they didn't even bother to help us! Hmf. C'mon, let's go!" she snapped at him rather stubbornly._

_Zack just kept quiet and followed from behind her. "Alright, but c'mon, smile! It's December 24!!! Tomorrow's Christmas! I got you a present, y'know?" he told her rather gaily._

_But she didn't seem to be interested so he just sulked._

Earlier before he went to Yuffie's room to tell her that it's time to go, Zack had his breakfast alone in the hotel's lobby restaurant and on his way back to his room, the receptionist called for him and handed him a letter addressed to him. The receptionist said that it was delivered by a red "dog".

Red dog?

Zack just shrugged. The only red dog he could recall was Red XIII, the one he saw in Hojo's laboratory from way back.

Zack could remember reading the letter. It was from Aerith, telling him she's sorry and that he should forget her already blah blah blah… it was a hard blow for him.

"IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!!" he yelled angrily in the lobby of the hotel after reading the letter. Foreigners near him looked at him warily and went as far away from him as possible.

He sighed. The letter was still with him, there in Wutai, even as he placed Yuffie on her bed. He gazed blankly at her face, still feeling so depressed about what happened to him and Aerith. He just shook his head in despair and got out of the room, going back to his own and just decided to rest.

Maybe in time, he could really forget Aerith and move on. With that, he instantly thought of creating a diversion for himself in order to forget his problems and concerns… and his diversion is his work as Yuffie Kisaragi's bodyguard.

Rufus ShinRa was just seated quietly in his bedroom watching the snow falling from outside his window. He sat on a couch which he had positioned by the window and drinking hot tea. It was already midnight, and it was Christmas Eve, but he just greeted himself quietly with a slight smile on his face before looking at the sleeping Dark Nation by his foot. Earlier, he received a text message from Cloud greeting him an advanced Merry Christmas coming from him and the rest of the AVALANCHE gang. He wondered what they were doing at present… and he imagined them sharing a simple meal and being very happy…

He gazed outside and saw the still black-out parts of Midgar; the ones with no electricity yet. Frowning, he got up and placed his cup of tea on the windowpane before proceeding to outside in the hallway. Once he reached the elevator, he heard his father's footsteps and the angry voice talking to someone over the cellphone. Rufus listened for a while before pressing the "down" button. "I don't care if it's Christmas Eve; you send out your troops out there now, Heidegger. I told you that the search for the rebels should continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week!" President ShinRa snapped.

Rufus just stared into empty space, pretending not to have heard anything, but he was thinking, "Bloody hell… Old Man's really snapped…"

President ShinRa approached him while still yelling on the phone, "And once you find them, take them all to Junon! I can't take the fact that during my son's reign as President while I was gone, he wasn't able to wipe out AVALANCHE! Dammit, Heidegger…"

Rufus glared at his father.

President ShinRa eyed Rufus warningly, like saying, "We'll talk so don't go away." Rufus got the message and just stood still even as the elevator door opened, waiting for his father to end the conversation on the mobile phone.

"Find them. Take them to Junon. Interrogate them and if they don't admit to their faults, _torture_ them by any means possible, ya hear? And arrest all the suspicious-looking people and take them to Junon too. Midgar is in a state of emergency and this is really necessary. And from tomorrow onwards, I'll be implementing curfews and a new set of rules around here." and President ShinRa finally ended the conversation.

Rufus still appeared cold and poker-faced, even as he imagined Cloud and the others being tortured…

President ShinRa locked the keypad of his phone and turned to Rufus with an impatient look on his face. He was still panting because of too much rage. "And what are you doing still up?" he asked his son.

"I should ask you the same question." Rufus said.

"I'm supposed to go to your room to ask you something." President ShinRa said. Rufus was just quiet, so he proceeded, "I checked the vault in my room… one of the items is missing."

Rufus just stared.

President ShinRa continued, "It's your mother's locket."

Rufus had the urge to smile, but he did not. "Maybe the mice ate it. That vault is too old… just like you… and maybe the insides got too brittle. Besides, why would you even care for mother's locket?" he asked rather arrogantly before flipping his hair. His father's frown deepened, "Because it's made of expensive silver and I had it custom-made for her in Wutai when I proposed to her!" he told him.

"And since it's expensive silver, you're planning to auction it, am I right?" Rufus asked, his eyes narrowing at his father.

President ShinRa smiled slyly at him, "You can read minds, huh?" he asked.

"It's called smarts." Rufus said, pointing to his own head before walking away, proceeding to the fire exit stairs.

"Where are you going?" President ShinRa demanded as he went after his son. Rufus stopped in his tracks and turned back to his father. "Never you mind." He replied.

"Of course I mind. For all I know you could be with the rebels or something!" President ShinRa replied.

Rufus acted surprise, "_Father_ dear! Why would I even do that? You yourself said that I am not capable of getting rid of them so why should I even join forces with them? That would bust my ego. You know how self-centered I am, right?" he asked. "Hmf… you changed so much when you became friends with Aerith…" President ShinRa told him while eyeing him from head to toe, and froze, pointing at his feet, "You see what I'm talking about?! What's with those pink bunny slippers?!" he demanded.

Rufus felt his heart sink. Those slippers were Aerith's birthday gift for him. "Shit…" he thought in annoyance. He forgot to change his footwear. But he still maintained good composure and just shrugged after flipping his hair, flashing his most arrogant smile at his father, "My feet are tired from a whole day's running around with the Turks and a bunch of SOLDIERs from Junon back here just so that your investigation of the terrorists could be done… and these are the most comfortable slippers around so there. Sue me," he explained coolly.

President ShinRa just snorted. "Well pink definitely isn't your color. Anyway, speaking of Turks, are you aware that one of them has joined the rebels already?"

"I am completely aware of that. I have interrogated the SOLDIERs that escaped from Sector 5, and as I understand it, Elena of the Turks was fighting on the side of AVALANCHE. I talked to Reno, and he tells me that she wasn't anywhere near that place, though…" he answered dully.

The President smirked. "You should learn who to trust, Rufus." He told him as he patted his son's left shoulder. Rufus followed his father's hand with his gaze and felt rather disgusted, but he did not move. With that, the President moved away from his son. "I'm going to sleep now. I've arranged for your trip back to Junon tomorrow morning at 9." He told him.

Rufus stared strangely at his father, "Junon?" he asked. "Are you letting me do the investigation there?" he asked.

"The investigation of what happened during your birthday is only a part of your job in keeping the company and the family's name spotlessly clean. You are the Vice President, remember?" President ShinRa explained before turning away. Rufus somewhat felt a little helpless when he heard that… but what else could he do? His mind was too tired to think of excuses already upon his father's decision for him. Again, he is to stay far away from Midgar; in Junon. He doesn't know how long he is going to stay there, but he knows that he would lose complete contact with AVALANCHE once he reaches Junon. "Damn…" was all he could say before he grudgingly proceeded to the stairs. He just absentmindedly continued to descend the steps, not caring if it took him too long to reach the lowest basement where the Mako Reactors are.

There were a few SOLDIERs on-duty and awake, and they tried to talk him out of proceeding further from Reactor 1, but he was insistent. "I would just like to see the main controls." He told them patiently.

"But we'll have to escort you there, sir." One of the SOLDIERs told him.

"Please do." Rufus said plainly before leading the way.

Once they reached the control room, he instantly began to fiddle with the buttons and the electric circuits. "Construction of the reactors are rather quick, eh?" he asked the SOLDIERs.

"Yes, sir. Labor seems cheaper nowadays so your father was able to hire more workers to speed up the construction." One of them replied.

"But they're still not working?" Rufus asked.

"Nope." SOLDIER 1 replied.

SOLDIER 2 continued, "Professor Hojo lost his files and included in those is the activation formula for the reactors."

Rufus smiled secretly. "That second-rate scientist…" he muttered to himself before putting to wires together and pressed some random buttons. The SOLDIERs were surprised to hear the sound of one of the dead Reactors coming back to life… one of them immediately ran out of the control room to check… and it was the reactor providing electricity to Sector 7.

Rufus slowly got up, grunting. "Well, that's all for today. Just trying out my knowledge on circuits and stuff." He told them casually before walking away.

"But… but sir! How did you do that?" SOLDIER 3 asked.

Rufus did not answer. He just walked away.

"What about the other Sectors, sir?" SOLDIER 1 asked.

"Hojo can do that. Tell him to go figure it out on his own." He replied before proceeding upstairs again, but using the elevator this time.

The lights flickered slightly and then were fully back on again. Marlene rejoiced happily. "Whee!!! It's not scary anymore!!!" she said while jumping up and down and ran to the candles, blowing out the flames one by one.

"Aww shucks…" Sephiroth muttered.

"Don't tell me you like being in the dark?" Vincent asked him.

"Not really… I was just thinking of scaring the girls later on. Mwahahahaha." Sephiroth replied back with an evil grin on his face.

"You can never really change, huh?" Cloud asked miserably before grabbing the Turkey leg from the plate. "Hey, that's mine!" Tifa told him.

"You snooze, you lose," he pointed out with a serious look on his face before taking a bite. "Hmm. Yummy." He said while licking the grease off his lower lip. Tifa cringed. "Gross…" she muttered before turning away.

"Chill out, Teef! That Turkey leg could end up in your thighs anyway. Mwahahahaha." Sephiroth teased.

"So what? I exercise anyway!" she told him before grabbing a muffin.

"Well ya'll seem so happy, foo's." Barret told them before revealing to them his gifts.

"Oh you shouldn't have, Barret!" Aerith exclaimed with a sheepish look on her face.

"Let me guess… you got me another scarf," Cloud muttered to him.

"So what?" Barret demanded before tossing a small wrapped box to Cloud. "And for you, kiddo," he gave a pink box to Marlene.

She stopped sucking on her candy cane and hugged Barret. "Yay!" she cheered as she enthusiastically unwrapped the box. It was just so cute that Aerith and Tifa went, "Aaaw…" and Sephiroth turned away to make a face.

Lucrecia and Vincent came in from the kitchen, Vincent carrying a tea tray. "Tea and crumpets? I thought it would be nice, since it's getting quite drafty in here…" he said, placing it on the table next to the decapitated turkey.

"Tea?! Why tea?! Only Cid would drink that! You should have made us hot chocolate instead!" Sephiroth whined.

Lucrecia pinched his cheek. "Hot chocolate isn't good for you; you might get hyper and start roughhousing with that Masamune of yours, dearie," she told him with a sweet smile.

"Besides, tea will calm you down," Vincent added as he took a sip of green tea.

"Uurgh…" Sephiroth grumbled as he took a cup.

Barret took a cup and raised it up for a toast, "Well ya foo's! Merry Christmas!" he told them.

"You should've dressed up in a Santa Claus costume to make things more interesting," Sephiroth pointed out.

As they all laughed, Aerith could only force a smile. Tifa looked up at her and approached her. "Aerith… is there anything wrong?" she asked in a soft voice.

She looked at her uneasily before whispering, "Let's talk about it in the kitchen…"

Tifa, confused, followed her there. "So… what's bothering you?" she asked.

Aerith sighed. "I… I'm not sure, but I think… I might have made Yuffie mad without knowing how…"

"What?"

She continued, "Ever since I came back … I don't really know. I just feel like Yuffie just decided to hate me for some reason..."

Tifa frowned skeptically. "Are you sure? It may just be you."

"W-ell… I'm sure I saw her glare at me more than once… and back at the Inn, when we found her there, crying… she still managed to give me a poisonous glare… I don't know; it's not like her…" Aerith explained. She sighed sadly. "I wish I could have asked her what was wrong…"

Her bartender friend laughed. "You must be just hallucinating. I mean, it's unlike Yuffie to hate you, Aerith, since she tells us that you're one of those rare, nice people that's impossible to hate…"

Aerith smiled glumly. "You think so?"

"Okay, give me one reason why Yuffie will just decide to hate you," Tifa said with a challenging tone.

She looked away with an uneasy look on her face. "Mmm… Tifa, you know, I might be wrong, but… it might be because of Zack."

Yuffie's eyes fluttered open. "Wha…?" she mumbled sleepily.

Sitting up on her bed, she looked around and realized that she was already in her room in her house in Wutai. Fancy that. "Who carried me here? I could have sworn I fell asleep in the chopper…" she thought silently before she slowly got up and looked at her injured right hand. It was still painful especially whenever she would form a fist with it and flex it even for a little. She just went over to the window and looked outside. She could recall that it was snowing in Midgar when she left, and she somewhat missed seeing it. There's no snow in Wutai but it was cold just like in Midgar.

As she gazed up at the night sky, she felt somewhat frustrated at something… she could recall the events in Midgar from last night… and all of a sudden, she just wanted to go outside and jump around, throwing shuriken blades at everyone that would tell her to stop.

Suddenly she wants to train. Determined, she rushed to her closet and got a sweater, put it on as she slipped into her boots and grabbed her big shuriken and rushed outside. She ended up in the Kisaragi residence's garden. After taking a deep breath, she jumped up onto the roof and turned to the tree with a lot of bats hanging upside down. "Heehee. Here you go, Yuffie," she told herself with a sly smile on her face before throwing a ninja star towards the tree, interrupting the bats. The bats came charging at her and she was ready to fight them.

Zack opened his eyes when he heard "Eeek eeek eeek!!!" noises from outside. "Bats?" he thought silently before slowly sitting up and scratching his head. "What the…" he gazed outside the window and saw several bats flying by. "Wonder what's going on…" he thought as he got up and went outside. As soon as he stepped out, he was surprised to see Yuffie in an exhibition of her agility and dexterity as she dodged and attacked the bats that were coming for her. Zack felt rather surprised at her. "Yuffie what are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm training, can't you see? OW!" she wailed in pain when a bat hit her, but she killed it instantly.

"Need help?" he asked.

"No. I can do this on my own!" she told him before she proceeded to jump over the wall and onto the next house's roof.

Zack was worried for her because she could further injure herself, but he could not do anything. He just followed her from down below as she remained on the roofs of the houses and climbing onto trees and walls, finishing off the bats.

After a while, the bats had dispersed on their own. Yuffie jumped down to the ground before him, panting hard. She gained a lot of scratches on her face and parts of her clothes were already torn, but she was still standing. "Well?" she asked him.

"Huh?" he asked, feeling dumbfounded.

She pointed a shuriken blade at him. "Get your Buster Sword and let's get it on." She told him with a wink and a determined smile on her face.

Zack stared at her for a few moments before smiling. He nodded, "Alright… wait for me here. I'll be back in a jiffy," he told her before he rushed back inside the house.


	9. Two Years Later

They Live!!!

By: GQ and Zhak

Chapter Nine: Two Years Later…

Two years with President ShinRa has been very hard for the people in the slums and those who are not cronies of the ShinRa. His "evil" had extended all throughout the Planet Gaia, putting each country into turmoil. The last area that he had sent his troops into was Wutai… and its citizens said that his attack in Wutai is on good-timing; just when it's out of its recession and slowly developing into a rich country again through its remaining natural resources.

President ShinRa's target in Wutai is the Water source; wanting to affiliate with the water company there. He wouldn't really go there, so he just asked for a representative to go to Midgar and have a meeting with him regarding the affiliation.

The only contact he had there were the Kisaragis; specifically Lord Godo.

Because of this, Lord Godo was forced to go to Midgar again, but he took his daughter and her bodyguard with him again. Yuffie was having second thoughts in returning to that place again, but since "his father said so", she could not really disobey.

"Where's Yuffie?" Lord Godo asked Zack before proceeding to the elevator of the hotel. He was already scheduled to go to ShinRa HQ.

"I think she's in her room." Zack replied.

"Aren't you supposed to be there guarding her?" Lord Godo asked.

"She told me she is going to dress up so I stepped out of there first. She might get mad." Zack replied rather sheepishly.

"Well… just wait for her outside. Knock if she takes too long," he said, pushing Zack towards Yuffie's room. "I'll wait for you two in the lobby."

Before Zack could say anything, Lord Godo had already gotten in the elevator and closed the elevator doors. "O-kaaay…" he said to himself, walking towards Yuffie's room. He knocked at the door. "Yuffie?"

No answer.

He frowned. "Yuffie?" he called out again.

Nothing.

Zack frowned even more. "Answer, will you? I'll open the door myself if you won't talk!

Still, no answer.

"Ah, man… I hope she's at least decent…" he grumbled to himself as he took the key-card to the room from his pocket and pushed it through the key-card hole. The door clicked and Zack opened the door. "Yuffie? I opened the door!" he called out.

He froze in his tracks at what he saw. "Uh-oh…"

There wasn't any Yuffie in the room. Only an open window from the 11th floor. And a note on the bed.

"Sorry. Had to go somewhere important. Tell daddy not to worry—Yuffie" It even had a doodle of herself giving the peace sign near the signature.

Zack grit his teeth in frustration. "Yuffie?! How the heck did you go down from the 11th floor, jump?" he said, then sighed. "Oh no… if Lord Godo finds out, he'll kill me… I have to find her by myself…" he thought to himself in horror.

"Think, Zack, think… if you were Yuffie, what would be the first place you'd go to in Midgar?"

a) a restaurant

b) a mall?

c) ShinRa HQ

d) Any possible place where Cloud and the others could be

Zack tried to narrow down the choices: Yuffie couldn't be in a restaurant… it would be senseless since she could eat in the Hotel for free (room service or otherwise) and if she went to ShinRa HQ, she'd get more food. She couldn't have went to a mall since, well, she didn't seem like she's in a mall-hoppy mood today. She couldn't have went to ShinRa HQ by herself because Lord Godo was going to go to the same place and it would be a waste of time, not to mention tiring, to walk there by herself…

Unless, of course, it was another one of those AVALANCHE things…

"So, ShinRa HQ or wherever Cloud is..." he thought to himself.

Speaking of Cloud… he checked his watch for the date. "August 19? Hey, it's his birthday today… THAT'S IT!"

He now knows where she is…

"Hey, Reno." Tseng called out.

Reno dully faced his boss. "… Yeah?" he slurred.

"Snap out of it," he snapped.

"Can't. It's boring here without her," Reno answered as he put his legs on the little coffee table, one of the few pieces of furniture in the Turk lounge. "I can't make fun of anyone anymore. You two are boring. Scarlet makes me sick. Reeve is a dork, but not the kind you make fun of…"

Rude, who was getting coffee from a vending machine, gave Reno a look.

Reno sighed. "No, I don't have to admit _anything, _Rude," he retaliated irritably.

"He's right, Reno. Admit it, you miss Elena because you like her," Tseng said, smiling at him teasingly.

He frowned as he took a cigarette from his pocket. "No, I don't. I just can't understand why she left ShinRa just 'cause she got caught. I made up a good excuse for her, too… Toss me a lighter, won't ya, Rude." He caught the lighter Rude tossed and burnt the tip of the cigarette.

"You told Vice President Rufus that she was in _Sector 7 doing volunteer work,_" Tseng reminded him, stressing on the _volunteer work _part.

"So that she wouldn't be anywhere near Sector 5!" Reno reasoned out as he blew out smoke.

"It isn't believable, Reno," Rude said.

"How come?"

"They wouldn't believe that Elena left a party just so she could feed soup to slum children."

Reno frowned. "Yeah, yeah, but it was hard thinking of an excuse, okay? I couldn't tell them that she went back to her apartment in Sector 2 because they checked it out already before they asked me…"

Tseng sighed. "No use arguing about that now, boys. At least we know that she's safe…" he trailed off. They promised not to speak of AVALANCHE within ShinRa HQ's vicinity.

They fell silent. Tseng went back to reading his files. Reno quietly diffused smoke in the room. Rude silently sipped his coffee.

"… It's boring here." Reno complained, breaking the silence again.

Rude gave him a look again.

"Stop that, Rude. I don't like her that way," the redhead said defensively, turning the other way.

Marlene joyfully put icing over the big, blue birthday cake. "Auntie Aerith, is this okay?" she asked as she gestured to her work of art. Aerith smiled, pleased that Marlene is good in culinary arts at such a very young age.

"Oh Marlene, that's the most splendid design you've ever done on a cake!" Tifa remarked as she readied the sugar flowers to be placed on top of the cake.

"Flowers? What if Cloud dislikes those?" Aerith asked her curiously.

"Birthday cakes should have flowers! Heehee." Tifa pointed out with a silly smile on her face.

"But he's a man!" Aerith said.

"A man who loves a flower girl," Tifa said, winking before nudging her best friend with her elbow. Aerith just stared blankly at her but she blushed slightly. She just watched as Marlene and Tifa began to put the flowers on the birthday cake while she prepared the red icing for the glazing of the "Happy Birthday Cloud!" on top of the cake with white sugary icing and pink and purple glazing on the sides. "I hope he likes this cake. It looks rather girly…" she muttered with a weak smile on her face.

"Be thankful Marlene didn't put ribbons. Last year when we celebrated Vincent's birthday in October, she put glazed red ribbons on the sides." Tifa told her.

"Uncle Vincent told me he liked it!" Marlene protested.

"Yes, yes, I know," Tifa said while giggling.

Aerith just bit her lower lip to prevent herself from laughing because she just saw Vincent glaring at them from the living room, looking over the newspaper that he was reading. She just smiled sweetly at Vincent, "Is Cloud around yet?" she asked.

"He's still out there in Sector 1 with Sephiroth and Barret." He replied before he proceeded to read.

"He's out there and then it's his birthday today?" Lucrecia asked. She was seated on the couch opposite Vincent just knitting socks. It was quite unusual for a scientist like her to do such a thing, and everyone else noticed it but just decided not to comment about it. Vincent just told them that it could be her way of diverting her attention from her worries to the finer thing in her life of being a mother to Sephiroth (by knitting him socks and cooking food for him) and making up for all the times that she was away from Vincent.

"How old's the guy anyway?" Elena asked while surfing channels on the TV.

"24." Aerith replied.

"What's he doing out in Sector 1 at this time anyway?" Lucrecia asked.

Vincent glanced at the time and it was three in the afternoon but he did not say anything.

"It's been two years ever since ShinRa got back… and they're already nearing the peak of their victory in world domination. Barret feels we need to do something already about it since everyone else is afraid to fight them because you can easily die just by doing so." Tifa explained with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Well what about Rufus? Isn't he supposed to help us?" Red XIII asked.

"Haven't really heard much about him lately for the past two years…" Lucrecia said with a confused look on her face.

"Well, I guess it fits the job description of being the Vice President of ShinRa; you don't get to be in the spotlight too much… just like before when he was Vice President for the first time." Aerith told them as she began to put the flowers on the cake.

"He's just in Junon, I guess…" Vincent said, but he stopped talking when someone just barged in and yelled, "HEY EVERYONE!!! I'm back!!! Heeheeheeheehee!"

Silence.

Aerith, Tifa and Elena screeched excitedly upon seeing Yuffie again after a long time of being apart from her. Vincent and Red XIII cringed at the girly screams while Lucrecia just continued to knit the socks but she had a pleased smile plastered on her face.

The girls hugged one another, squishing Yuffie.

Vincent and Red XIII just watched in amazement. "I thought the door was locked?" Red XIII asked in surprise.

"Silly dog! I picked it! Heeheeheehee!" Yuffie announced.

"Oh Yuffie we're so glad you're back!!! Are you—?" Tifa trailed off when she realized that there was something different about Yuffie.

"What?" Yuffie asked, wondering what was wrong… and everybody was staring curiously at her.

It was her hair. It was longer now… up to her waist.

"What's with the long hair?" Elena asked while thinking if she should grow her hair longer too.

Yuffie giggled sheepishly, "Well I figured it'd look cool on me!" she told them happily.

"Well yes, it does look cooler on you!" Tifa said. Yuffie also noticed that Tifa's hair is already of the same length as hers. "Oh my GAWD!!! You cut yours?!" she demanded.

"Yeah! You like it? Heehee!" Tifa said rather proudly.

"Hmm… don't really know. Why don't you ask your _fianc_?" Yuffie teased.

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "What fiancé? I don't even have a boyfriend." She replied.

"I thought you got engaged to Rufus?" Yuffie asked curiously.

Silence.

"Uhm… didn't Barret tell you that it's just acting?" Tifa asked.

Yuffie gasped. "OH MY GAWD!!! And all the while I was telling myself not to hate ShinRa because you're going to be a part of it someday!!!" she exclaimed.

"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!" Tifa protested.

"So what are you doing here anyway?" Aerith asked, offering Yuffie a seat.

"Oh yes, don't forget to congratulate _Mrs. Strife_ here." Elena told Yuffie while referring to Aerith.

Yuffie's face lit up. "GAWDS!!! You tied the knot already and you didn't even tell me?!" she asked in shock.

"Well we're supposed to send you an invitation but we don't know how to reach you because ShinRa inspects all sorts of airmail going out of Midgar to another country." Aerith replied rather sadly. She was somewhat relieved that Yuffie hasn't been flashing the usual dagger looks on her like what she had done before when Zack was around.

"Yes. Ever since President ShinRa declared Martial Law, things had gone overboard. In fact, we've been under Martial Law for two years now because he says that he won't lift it up until AVALANCHE is caught." Elena explained with a disappointed look on her face.

"That's so unfair! So people are blaming you guys for everything instead of them blaming ShinRa? GAWDS!!!" Yuffie said in annoyance as she seated herself.

"I thought Zack's your bodyguard? Where is he?" Lucrecia asked her.

Yuffie just bit her lower lip and shrugged. "Left him in the hotel. I'd like to come over here without him." She said.

"And what have you been doing for the past 2 years? You also seem to look a little taller," Vincent complemented.

"Why thank you, Mister Valentine! Must be my new boots! Heehee! Although I'm still the same height." She replied before she got up again. "So, where's the birthday celebrant?" she asked.

"The birthday celebrant's out there with Sephiroth and Barret checking out Sector 1 before curfew arrives." Aerith replied.

"Curfew?" Yuffie asked.

"Martial law, remember?" Vincent asked.

"Oh yeah…" she said thoughtfully.

"It's at six in the evening. By six, everyone should be in their homes already. Anyone else out in the streets will definitely be arrested and imprisoned... in Junon." Lucrecia explained.

"Well it's too early. I just went over here to check things greet the birthday celebrant." Yuffie said with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Suddenly you have interest in the birthday celebrant?" Red XIII asked inquiringly.

"Not really… I just missed you guys, that's all… and…" she turned to Aerith and smiled, but before she could say anything else, they were interrupted when Sephiroth arrived.

"I'm home!" he announced with a pleased look on his face.

Aerith and Tifa gasped, puzzling him. "Where's Cloud?" the former asked.

"He's… still with Barret. I went back here because we saw Yuffie's dad go to ShinRa…" Sephiroth trailed off when he noticed Yuffie staring at him. "Oh, she's here." He muttered, but he was not surprised.

Aerith sighed in relief. "Thank goodness Cloud's not with you yet! The cake's not yet finished!" she said before turning back to the cake.

"Your dad's in ShinRa? Why?" Tifa asked, turning back to Yuffie.

"President ShinRa wants to talk to him. He's the representative sent by Wutai to talk to the President about the water company affiliation…" Yuffie replied miserably as she crossed her arms.

"So is Zack with you?" Sephiroth asked before taking a seat beside Vincent and grabbed the remote control before he started to surf through the channels.

Yuffie just felt a bit stunned by the question, but did not answer.

Aerith noticed the discomfort in Yuffie's face so she asked, "Are you alright? Where's your bodyguard anyway? Isn't he supposed to be with you?"

Yuffie just laughed weakly. "Heehee! I left without permission because I would like to see you guys without Zack trailing behind me!" she replied.

"Oh that's so sweet, Yuffie!" Aerith said before coming near her and taking her hands in hers. "We really missed you… by the way, where are you staying?" she asked.

"Hotel. Sector 1." Yuffie said simply.

"Why don't you just stay here for a while instead?" Tifa asked.

Yuffie shook her head. "Nah. Dad might get worried." She replied before she uneasily pulled her hands away from Aerith, smiling weakly. "Besides, I don't like Zack coming around here." She said.

"How come?" Elena asked.

Yuffie just ignored the question before taking a quick glance at the clock. "Oopsy… It's time for me to go!" she said before heading for the door.

"But we thought you're staying here for…" Lucrecia began, but trailed off when Yuffie just waved goodbye while saying, "Sayonara!" and rushed outside the door, leaving everyone perplexed.

The moment Yuffie got out, her cheerful smile slowly faded away and she just stared at the ground with a solemn look on her face. She sighed heavily before she decided to walk away rather briskly, avoiding the looks of the people on her like they are wondering who she is. She did not even realize that she was being followed by Elena and Aerith because she was busily thinking of how she would explain to Zack on where she has been.

"I'm outta here," Yuffie muttered to herself as she continued brisk-walking away from the house. She didn't stop until she reached one of the upper sectors, with Elena and Aerith silently trailing behind her.

Her attention was diverted when somebody started yelling her name. She looked up, as well as the other people walking and minding their own businesses. "YUFFIE! YUFFIE!!! Excuse me, sir, sir! Have you seen, uh, a young Wutaian girl about this tall, and…"

Yuffie gritted her teeth so loudly, Elena and Aerith heard it from where they were hiding. "ZACK!!!" she yelled, running towards him.

"Yuffie?! There you are! Where have you been…"

"Argh! Since when were you running around like a deranged idiot like that, yelling out my name! That's so embarrassing!!!" she snapped impatiently at him.

Elena and Aerith gaped at the two. "Man… isn't she grateful that Zack's worried about her?" the former whispered in disbelief.

"That's just the way she is." Aerith replied with a weak smile on her face.

Zack was scratching his head and he still had this concerned look in his eyes as he said, "Well… I… I…I didn't know where Cloud was, since I know it's his birthday today and I thought you'd go there… and… you're out here in the streets alone!"

"So what if I'm out in the streets alone?" Yuffie asked stubbornly, flipping her hair off her shoulder.

"Well, there could be another Don Corneo out there… and…" he said.

"Zack, be realistic! The Don is dead. And come on, I am already well-trained to defend myself thanks to you… Don't tell me we've trained for hours in Wutai for nothing!" she told him.

"But…" he replied.

"But nothing! And you're following me?! GAWDS!!!" she exclaimed.

"She's making a scene already," Elena remarked, noticing the people staring at the two. Aerith giggled, "Well at least they won't see us. You're really good in hiding, huh?" she asked. "Of course! Turk skills!" Elena boasted.

Zack finally had the nerve to say something. "… Uh… I was… worried about you…"

Yuffie blushed. "R-really?" she asked.

Tifa frowned at the two giggling girls who barged in the house. "Elena! Aerith! What did you do out there? You left me here alone to clean up the mess we made at the kitchen, and—…"

Elena bit her lower lip to keep from screaming, but she didn't hold the excitement in for too long. "EEE! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! Tifa?! You missed it! YOU MISSED IT!!!" She squealed.

Aerith echoed her squeals. "Oh my god! Tifa! You missed a LOT!"

Tifa's facial expression brightened instantly. "Oh my god! What? What?"

Sephiroth, who was eating cookies silently next to his mother, cringed. "Oh my god. Girl talk…" he mumbled as he chewed his chocolate chip cookies, imitating the high-pitched squealy voice that the girls were using.

Elena, Aerith and Tifa huddled closely together. Sephiroth heard Elena whisper something, but amidst the giggles and the tension, he couldn't understand a word. He flinched when they squealed even louder. "ARGH! What is it with girls and squealing when they hear a secret?!" he growled.

"OH MY GAWD! Really?! I MISSED IT! Oh my gawd…!!!" Tifa shrieked, her cheeks flushed in excitement.

"Yeah?! You should have come with us, Teef! They were _sooooo_cute! Hee hee!!!" Elena swooned.

"Yeah! Even if she's just this tall and he's this tall, GAWDS they're so hot!!!" Aerith screeched while making hand gestures on Yuffie and Zack's respective heights.

"Why? Who?" Lucrecia asked, setting aside her knitting and ran towards the girls. Even Marlene approached the three girls and asked too.

Sephiroth, Vincent and Red XIII stared curiously at the girls who were huddled together and discussing something in low whispers combined with giggles and soft squeals that they could not even understand. And then Lucrecia and Marlene just joined in the excitement and the giggles and the squealing…

Sephiroth clenched his teeth. "Alright, what's going on?!" He demanded.

The girls fell silent and turned to the boys. "Nothing that would interest you, son." Lucrecia said with a sweet smile on her face. Vincent blinked and got up. "Oh come on, what is it?" he asked as he approached them. Marlene gestured for him to carry her, so he did, and then she started whispering something in his ear.

Vincent's mouth dropped open. "Oh my… is that so?" he asked before looking at Lucrecia, Tifa, Aerith and Marlene in disbelief as if seeking verification.

"Yeah! Isn't that great?!" Aerith replied happily.

Sephiroth stomped his foot and got up from the couch. "Oh come on!!! What is that?" he demanded.

Vincent put down the little girl on the ground. "Oh nothing." He replied before proceeding back to the living room, while the other girls went back to work.

"That's not fair! How come you told Vincent and you wouldn't even tell me?!" Sephiroth demanded in annoyance.

But they just ignored him.

"Hmf." He gave up, going back to the couch to watch TV.

Lord Godo just remained seated on a chair facing the President's desk. He arrived in ShinRa 30 minutes ago and had been offered some coffee and a muffin to eat. He still hasn't spoken to President ShinRa because the President has been on the telephone making phone calls to various business people.

Lord Godo was becoming impatient but he still tried to remain calm.

When he saw President ShinRa put down the receiver, he felt relieved. "Finally…" he thought to himself; but just when President ShinRa was about to speak to him, the telephone rang again. Lord Godo just shook his head in disbelief and bowed down his head, looking at the floor in dismay. President ShinRa instantly pressed the speakerphone button in annoyance. "Who's this, make it quick." He said.

"It's me, _father_."

Rufus.

President ShinRa's face lit up. "Oh. Hello, sonny boy. How are you doing there in Junon? Got my message and returned my call, huh?" he asked with a pleased tone.

"You should know. I've sent you the report." Rufus replied.

"Anyway, it's very unusual for you to return my calls. There must be something wrong?" President ShinRa asked.

"I've been here for 2 years and I just want you to know that I would like to take a visit there tomorrow evening. I just want to see my fiancée again." Rufus said.

President ShinRa's eye widened. "Oh damn… I almost forgot you had a beautiful fiancée, huh? Is she here in Midgar again? I thought she's in Gongaga?" he asked.

"Well… she's taking a vacation there now, I suppose." Rufus said.

"And when do you plan on marrying her anyway? It's been almost two years ever since you two got engaged!" President ShinRa told him. "Anyway, any news about AVALANCHE?" he continued.

"I'm not even there to investigate; how should I know?" Rufus replied haughtily.

"Well that's one of your tasks, remember?! Now get back to work! I want results immediately. Besides, Hojo's Black Death is nearly complete and when we bomb the lower sectors, I want you to assist me, alright?"

"Don't tell me what to do. I know what I'm doing." Rufus snapped before hanging up.

President ShinRa frowned, listening to the dial tone and switched off the speakerphone before clearing his throat and turned to Lord Godo. "I'm very sorry for the delay. Anyway, welcome to ShinRa." He said.

Lord Godo just stared blankly at him, "Going to business," he began, wanting to go straight to the point. President ShinRa got up. "Ah, yes. You're the representative from Wutai Water Company, right?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. And…"

"And you will sign this contract over here," President ShinRa said, pulling out something from his desk drawer. Lord Godo still had his mouth open in an attempt to speak. He closed it again and picked up the paper, reading the contract. He pushed the white piece of paper on the desk and towards the man. "Take your time…" he said before turning back to his desk.

"I… I'm sorry, President ShinRa, but what is this all about?" Lord Godo asked in confusion.

"That's the agreement between your country and ShinRa that we can buy your water company." President ShinRa replied before sitting down once again on his big office chair.

"Buy? I thought you're just going to…" Lord Godo began, but the President cut him off with a stern tone louder than his, "…Affiliate? I changed my mind. Besides, you are not competitive enough as a company, so why not sell it to ShinRa? It can benefit your people too. Your country is a third-world one… and you need help."

Lord Godo was stunned. "How could we be competitive if we don't have any competition?" he asked in confusion.

"Let me be frank with you, alright? Your country can never rise from its poverty-stricken condition unless you let my _empire_ take over it." President ShinRa explained.

"I think I'd better consult my people first before I start signing contracts. Good day, sir. I'll just come back here when…" Lord Godo trailed off when President ShinRa got up from his seat and called upon the Turks from the Intercom. "You're not going anywhere unless you agree." He warned.

Lord Godo just frowned but did not say anything. He was thinking, "God… this man is worse than I thought!"

The Turks arrived in a nick of time. President ShinRa just eyed them coldly before turning back to Lord Godo, looking at him from head to toe, "Take this man to one of the prison cells and lock him up there until I instruct you to release him." He commanded.

"Yes sir," Tseng, Reno and Rude all replied in unison.

Lord Godo just turned around to face the Turks, willing to go with them. "Do as your President says. I won't sign that damn contract." He said.

"You have just made a big mistake, old man," President ShinRa told him.

"Well, _old man_, I don't care what you do to me. Even if I die for my country, I will do so; but I will never ever give any single piece of Wutai to you." Lord Godo replied mockingly.

President ShinRa just smiled slyly at him, "Oh yeah? Even if your daughter's life depended on it?" he asked

Lord Godo stiffened but did not say anything else. He began to worry about his daughter's safety, but at the same time, he could feel that Yuffie could take care of herself and avoid the Turks and SOLDIER. He just bowed down his head and muttered something in Wutaian that only Tseng was able to understand… and it was, "Please… not my daughter."

Tseng tried his hardest to retain his calm, neutral facial expression.

Barret frowned as he looked down from his post in the vent. He just wished that the vent would widen a bit more; he felt as if the sides are closing in on him. Or that it would collapse under his weight. From where he was spying, he could barely hear Tseng saying something undeterminable, probably in Wutaian, to Lord Godo, with the two other Turks behind him.

Tseng nodded. The Turks left Lord Godo inside the prison cell. Rude closed the door behind him.

"Them foo's…!! I thought they were on our side?! Ah well, they better be just playing…" Barret thought to himself irritably as he tried to crawl backwards to get out of there. In the process, he hit his head on the ceiling, making a rather loud and horrible clunking noise. "ACK! $#%..." he wanted to scream, but he bit his lower lip in time.

Lord Godo looked up curiously to where the clunking noise came from, but he just sighed and shook his head and ignored it, dismissing the noise as coming from lurking rats.

Barret continued crawling backwards in the vent until he smelled the glorious reek of the bathroom with the ruined grate, the one where he entered from. "Ah! Finally! Still stinks, though…" he grumbled to himself as he successfully hopped out of the vent, landing one foot on the floor… and the other one in the toilet bowl. "%$#!" he screamed, this time out loud.

Cloud was waiting outside the cubicle. "So, Barret, what did you find out?"

"The old coot was jailed by the fat old coot." He answered, trying his best to shake off the toilet water that soaked his left boot. "What I mean is, tha' old Godo foo' didn't make the right decision, so Fat ShinRa jailed 'im. Didn't understand nuthin', cuz the old foo' was talking in Wutaian with Tseng! Dang…" he explained before removing his boot and poured out the water back to the toilet bowl. "So, you found out about anything like in Hojo's laboratory?" he asked.

Cloud looked a little stunned before shaking his head in disagreement. "N…no, but Rufus informed me about something… he just sent me an SMS about it." He explained.

"Whazzit 'bout?" Barret asked curiously as he closed the lid of the toilet bowl and sat down on it, putting on his boot.

"About Black Death. Hojo seems to have another back-up somewhere that Lucrecia had failed to delete… and it's about to be completed." Cloud explained. Barret was shocked. "What?!" he demanded.

"We need to do something or else all the lower sectors are going to be history!" Cloud told him.

Barret got up and stepped out from the cubicle. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go back to Sector 7 and discuss to the others about infiltration tomorrow evening." He said as he led the way to the door, but froze when the door just burst open. Cloud stiffened for a moment but calmed down when he realized that it was only Rude.

Rude just stood still for a moment, looking at them curiously before finally speaking up, "I knew you were in the vent."

Cloud laughed weakly, "Eh… yeah. It's an AVALANCHE thing, I guess…" he said rather dumbly. Barret just frowned at him. "Foo'! Y'mean ta say that I was hidin' for nuttin'?" he demanded.

"It's not important anymore, sir. I'm sure you know that Lord Godo's in prison already?" Rude asked.

"Hell yeah! If you knew I was in the vent, wouldn't say so again…" Barret replied.

"He wants you to tell his daughter to go back to Wutai with… with Zack, I think that's the name…" Rude began.

Silence.

"So she's here too?" Cloud asked.

"Looks like it… but I think they're staying at one of the Hotels near this place. Reno did some research." Rude explained.

"Hmm… thanks for the info. We'll just tell 'er." Barret said before proceeding outside after Rude had stepped aside to let them pass. Cloud made eye contact with Rude, as if saying thanks, but before he could really get out of the bathroom, Rude hesitated to ask a question, "Uhm… Mister Strife, sir?" he began.

Cloud turned back to him, "Yeah?" he asked.

"Uhm… congratulations on… uhm… you and Miss Aerith… I mean… Mrs. Strife… uhm…" Rude said rather sheepishly.

"Oh… thanks." Cloud said plainly.

Rude hesitated for a few more moments before continuing, "…how's Miss Lockheart?" he asked.

Cloud remembered overhearing Rude and Reno's conversation about crushes… and Rude mentioned that he likes Tifa. He just pressed his lips together in an effort to prevent himself from laughing, and then said, "She's fine." And then turned away. Rude just bowed down his head. "Does she have a boyfriend already?" he asked.

"No, but I think she's got a fiancée named Rufus." Cloud said in a joking manner, but Rude took it seriously. Rude just fell silent.

"Hey Cloud, ya foo'! Whatcha doin' there? C'mon! Hurry with it before the others catch us!" Barret snapped at Cloud. Cloud went to him. "Yeah, yeah…" he muttered miserably.

Before Cloud and Barret went back to Sector 7, they stopped by the hotel where Yuffie is staying and informed her about her father's condition. Yuffie really freaked out and attempted to attack ShinRa single-handedly at that moment, but Zack and the others tried to calm her down. It would be very unwise to do that.

Even if Yuffie was still dazed, Barret still instructed her on what to do.

They are to infiltrate the ShinRa building on the next evening to find out when ShinRa will be planting the Black Death in the areas of the lower sectors.

They weren't sure if Yuffie was able to understand everything because she was just gazing blankly into empty space, but Zack told them that it was clear to him about the present situation.

To Cloud's horror, Barret invited Yuffie and Zack to spend the night over at their house so that their safety from SOLDIER could really be assured, but to his relief, Yuffie declined the invitation. She said that Zack is there for her and that they can work together to defend themselves against SOLDIER easily.

With that, Cloud and Barret left to go back to Sector 7 to discuss with the other AVALANCHE members about the mission for the next evening.


	10. Changes

They Live!!!

By: GQ and Zhak

Chapter Ten: Changes

It was past curfew already, and from the window where Yuffie was seated, she could see no more people walking outside on the streets. "That President ShinRa has gone too far…" she muttered.

"We can't do anything until tomorrow evening, Yuffie. Why don't you just rest? You need it." Zack told her. She did not even reply. He took a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was already 8:00 in the evening already. "Damn… I can't believe we forgot to eat dinner. You wanna go downstairs and take a quick bite in the lobby restaurant or just order for room service?" he asked.

She just sat still, keeping her head bowed down, causing her hair to fall to her face. It appeared like she was hiding her facial expression from him so that he wouldn't know how she really feels.

He got up from the couch where he was seated. "What's wrong with you?" he asked rather impatiently. She was really beginning to bother him because she has been refusing to answer him properly. She was acting like a complete spoiled brat that she was from before…

And he thought that she had changed already in the two years that they were together. She was so determined to learn… so he taught her a lot of things… maybe except for discipline… because he thought that it should come from the person herself. "What is wrong with you? Can't you tie your hair?" he asked her.

"Leave me alone. Go back to your own room. I don't need you here." She muttered miserably.

Zack went to her and grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her violently, "YUFFIE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??!! You're not acting like yourself!" he snapped impatiently.

"GAWDS!!!" she pushed him away from herself… and even if he was way taller than her and muscular, she was able to make him fall backward to the ground.

Zack felt so stunned. She has become stronger… something in her really changed, not just her physical appearance brought about by the long hair… but by something else. There was a look in her eyes that revealed too much vulnerability in such a young lady like her. It made him feel somewhat guilty on how he had spoken to her and how he had treated her earlier. He just looked down, bowing down his head in obvious shame. He was already expecting more nagging from her, but she did not say anything else anymore. She just approached him with tears in her eyes. She knelt down before him but she was slouching. She had her eyes on the ground as she sniffed. "I'm worried about my daddy… what if they're torturing him now?" she asked rather helplessly… and she sounded like a child…

He felt his heart sink before he just mindlessly moved forward and took her in his arms, embracing her gently. She was surprised by this action of his but she could not move. He gently patted her back. "Don't worry so much about him, Yuffie. Cloud mentioned that Rufus is on our side… and it's the same with the Turks. Let's just hope that as long as Rufus is in ShinRa, he won't let anything bad happen to your dad." He told her reassuringly.

Yuffie just bit her lower lip before she rested her head on his strong chest, letting her tears fall as she sobbed.

He ran his fingers through her hair and gently patted her head, "Shh… don't worry. We… we just have to trust Rufus, alright?" he asked softly.

"But what if he changes his mind?!" Yuffie asked in annoyance.

Before Zack could say something, someone started knocking on the door, surprising them.

"Who…" he had managed to say before withdrawing from her and went to the door, peeking through the peep hole.

SOLDIER.

"IT'S SO UNFAIR!" Zack moved away from the door and rushed to Yuffie.

"Why?" she asked as she slowly got up and wiped her tears away. Zack went over to the window and peeked outside on the streets. "Shit… we're surrounded…" he told her.

Her eyes widened before rushing to the window to look. She clenched her fist. "Oh my gawd…" she said rather weakly.

"They're outside too. I think they're here to arrest us." Zack told her.

"WHAT?! But what are we going to do?!" she asked in confusion before moving away from the window. "We can't go down from the window; they're going to shoot us!" she told him.

Zack began to think of something… but he does not know if it would receive approval from Yuffie or not. "Oh whatever! I have to get her out of here! I'm sure it's her they're after." He thought in dismissal of the hesitancy and rushed to the bed, grabbing a rather round pillow. "Yuffie, do you have a dress here?" he asked her.

"Wh…what? But why? What are you going to do?" she asked in confusion.

Zack did not answer; he just went straight to her luggage and went through her clothes until he was able to find a green sundress. "Oh thank God you have one here!" he told her.

"Why? Daddy asked me to bring that just in case we get invited to dinner by the President…" she began as he approached her and handed her the dress. "Put it on now! And put this pillow underneath it… on your tummy!" he told her.

She felt a bit mortified by what he said, getting his idea, but she was not able to say anything because she herself is in a state of too much panic and confusion already. She rushed to the bathroom to dress up while Zack went over to their weapons and grabbed them.

After two minutes, Yuffie got out of the bathroom wearing the dress with the pillow underneath it on her tummy. She looked like a pregnant woman of 9 months, which made Zack smile and laugh slightly at the sight of her looking so young but with a baby. "Hahah." And grabbed his Buster Sword.

She had her fists clenched as she forced a smile at him. "What is so funny, you porcupine-head?" she demanded.

"Nothing. Now I know how you'll look like when you are going to have a baby in the future. Anyway, let's get going. Just follow my lead, alright?" he asked.

"What are we going to do anyway?" she demanded as he approached her and placed his left arm around her shoulder and firmly gripped her shoulder, surprising her. "GAWDS! Don't do that! You're going to crush my bones!" she snapped impatiently.

"Just act like you're in a hurry and you're about to give birth already, alright?" he asked.

"WHAT?! How should I know how to act like I'm about to give birth already?! I haven't even had a child yet!" she snapped at him.

"Don't you ever watch movies with mommies about to give birth?" he asked in disbelief.

"No." she replied stubbornly.

"Wh…what about seeing women giving birth?" he asked her.

"Nope." She replied while shaking her head.

Zack felt a little dumbfounded. Yuffie pushed him away from herself, "Well what should I do?! I'm not even a mommy yet! I'm not even married… and I've never even had a boyfriend my entire life… and I am still a virgin, alright?!" she snapped impatiently.

Zack chuckled lightly, "You are?" he asked in bewilderment.

She shoved him away from her path as she headed for the door, "Stop staring at me like _that_…" she muttered miserably before standing on tiptoe to look at the peep lens on the door. She jumped away when the SOLDIER knocked again. "Eeps!!! They're armed and they look so dangerous!!!" she told him. He went over to her. "Just act like you're having a stomachache and you're feeling queasy but you can't vomit… and you've got abdominal cramps! I'm sure you know how it feels to have abdominal cramps because you're a girl?!" he told her as he held her close to him again before opening the door and let out a wail, "What?! What's going on?" he demanded from the SOLDIERs with a native Gongagan accent (imagine that it sounds Spanish).

The SOLDIERs were surprised to see them. Yuffie was already acting like she was about to give birth and she was wailing in pain.

The Second-Class Soldier turned to his comrades. "Are you sure this is the right room?" he asked.

The other Soldiers shrugged. "From what I know, the daughter is single and very young." One of them answered.

"Yeah, that's what I know too." the Second-Class Soldier replied before turning back to Yuffie and Zack.

Zack was frowning at them. "Look what you've done to _my wife_! Your loud knocking surprised her, and it gave her bad contractions! What if she's about to give birth already?! Is this how you treat tourists?!" he demanded in annoyance.

"Er… we're so sorry, sir. We thought…" the Second-Class Soldier replied rather sheepishly.

"Argh!!! Darling, get me out of here!!! I need a hospital!!!!! I don't like stinky SOLDIERs! AARGH!" Yuffie screeched impatiently.

"You see what you have done to my darling? You make her impatient! Now step out of the way!" Zack snapped rather harshly while pointing an accusing finger at the Second-Class Soldier.

The SOLDIERs stepped away. "Oh… a…alright, alright! Geez." The Second-Class Soldier said as he moved away from the couple.

With that, Zack and Yuffie went together to the elevator. "Stupid local people. They really make me mad!" he said.

"Stop complaining and hurry up!!! I NEED AN EFFING HOSPITAL!!!!!" she wailed as they entered the elevator.

"Foreigners are such whiners…" the Second-Class SOLDIER muttered to himself with an annoyed look on his face before turning to the others. "Why don't you verify from the desk whether they're in the 5th floor or in the 15th floor?!" he demanded.

"Sir, the front desk clearly said that this is the room of Lord Godo's daughter!" Soldier A replied.

"Lord Godo's daughter is single, meaning, she is unmarried. She doesn't have a husband. She doesn't have a child yet! And this is her picture from the file in ShinRa HQ's AVALANCHE records!" The Second Class Soldier explained, showing them the picture of a young lady with short dark brown hair.

Yuffie and Zack got out of the elevator and rushed out from the main entrance, still acting. "Coming through! Coming through!" Zack was yelling.

Yuffie was breathing hard already, huffing and then puffing as she stared worriedly at the other ShinRa Soldiers staring curiously at them.

"Hey, it's past curfew! You can't go out anymore!" one of the Soldier told them.

"But my wife is going to give birth! She needs to go to the hospital!" Zack replied in panic.

Yuffie screeched at the Soldier's face, surprising everyone. "GAWDS!!! What is wrong with the people of this country!!! Can't they see I'm suffering here!!! Oh my gawd!!!!!! If I get a miscarriage, I'm going to murder every single one of your citizens!!! They're so selfish! They're so—…"

"Alright, alright, you may go! Sheesh!" the Soldier said, stepping aside.

Zack squeezed her arm gently, as if telling her, "good job." And nodded his head in gratitude to the Soldier before rushing out of the hotel grounds with Yuffie still wailing and screaming in pain.

"Happy Birthday, Cloud!!!" Aerith greeted happily as she gave him her present accompanied with a kiss and a gentle hug, making him blush.

"Aw, that's so sweet," Sephiroth said with a mocking smile on his face. Cloud just eyed him warningly.

They had just finished eating dinner that Aerith had prepared for that special occasion.

"That meal was one of the best I've ever had!" Marlene said happily.

"Marlene's right, ya foo's! This food gave me more energy to proceed on our mission tomorrow night." Barret told them with a pleased look on his face.

"So we're really pushing through tomorrow?" Lucrecia asked with a curious look on her face before taking a piece of cake from the container. "Goodness, this is already my 5th serving." She muttered. "It means that the girls really did a great job baking the cake." Vincent mentioned.

"Yeah. Around 5, we'll assemble by the entrance to Sector 1 then we'll split." Barret explained.

"5 in the morning or 5 in the afternoon?" Sephiroth asked with a silly smile on his face.

"Afternoon, ya foo'!" Barret snapped at him. Sephiroth just shrugged while stifling a snicker as he forked a piece of cake off his mother's plate and ate it up before she could protest.

"And how do we split?" Tifa asked curiously, resting her elbows on the table and leaning forward in the process while eyeing Barret curiously. She seems to be very interested in the mission along with the others.

"Group One will consist of Sephiroth, Cloud and Vincent. The three of you will head to the laboratory immediately. We will really get rid of that Hojo guy once and for all! Then Group Two will consist of Tifa, Aerith and Elena. They'll stand guard all over the building. I'll be in the area where the Mako Reactors are with Red XIII, and then after we set up the bombs, we'll head upstairs. We will meet you guys up in the President's Office and we will get rid of him too." Barret explained.

"Based on my observation and when I saw the President's schedule earlier…" Sephiroth began, but Elena cut him off, "How'd you manage to see his schedule?" she asked in confusion.

"I climbed up the wall without anybody noticing me. It turns out that I'm already back in shape like before! Mwahahahahaha!" Sephiroth said as he flexed his arm muscles for everyone to see, indicating that he is already as healthy as before. "Uggh…" Lucrecia reacted, shaking her head in shame. The others just raised their eyebrows and stared in disbelief at him.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Rufus's Old Man will have a meeting in the conference room from 5-7 in the evening. We should all be finished in the laboratory and in the Mako Reactors by 6:45, and we'll all go upstairs and wait for the fat guy." Sephiroth explained.

"Then?" Aerith asked.

"We hold him hostage?" Tifa asked.

"No, we get rid of him," Lucrecia chimed in with a deep frown on her face.

"We'll _kill_ him?" Aerith asked in shock.

Marlene was staring at them in disbelief. "Isn't it wrong to kill?" she asked curiously with a fearful look in her eyes.

Nobody knew exactly how to answer to that… but still, Sephiroth gave it a shot: "Bad people should be punished."

They all fell silent.

"Well… you were a bad person, Uncle Sephy." Marlene said softly, her head bowed down but her eyes still looking at him with an unsure look in them.

All eyes turned to Marlene and then to Sephiroth, wondering what kind of reaction he will have. He just stared blankly at the little girl before smiling smugly, "I know. But I have… repented." He looked away and bowed down his head. "President ShinRa did not. Hojo did not. Don Corneo did not." He told them.

"What about Uncle Rufus?" Marlene asked.

They were surprised by how she had referred to Rufus. _Uncle_.

"What the---?! Whatcha call him?" Barret said out loud in shock while staring unbelievably at his daughter.

"Uncle Rufus. He told me to just call him _Uncle_." She replied quite proudly.

"Huh? Since when did you start talking to Rufus?" Cloud asked in confusion. He knows that Rufus hasn't even met the little girl before.

"He keeps calling the house whenever you guys are out and I'm home to answer the phone. He's asking if he could talk to…" she covered her mouth and then blinked in awe. "Ooops! I'm not supposed to tell!" she said and blushed while eyeing Tifa, then Cloud, then Sephiroth.

"Oh let me guess," Sephiroth said while eyeing Tifa maliciously.

"Stop staring at me like that! You're giving me the jitters! Are you aware that you were looking at me like that before you slashed my gut?!" she snapped impatiently before she got up and transferred to another seat beside Elena (where Sephiroth could not look at her anymore because he's sitting facing her before she transferred). He just laughed mockingly at her.

"What about Lucrecia? What is she going to do?" Tifa asked, wanting to change the subject.

"She's going with us but she and Marlene are just going to stay in one area in Sector One… just hanging out there in case something happens to Sector 7." Barret explained.

"And…" Cloud began, but was interrupted when they heard the front door slam close and running footsteps. All of them instantly got up. Cloud, Sephiroth and Vincent instantly grabbed hold of their weapons; Elena got hold of her gun and instantly aimed at the doorway from the living room, while Tifa and Aerith shielded Marlene.

Yuffie and Zack entered the scene, surprised at all of them. "?!"

The gang was stunned. "?!"

Tifa gasped. "Yuffie?! Is there something you're not telling us?!" she demanded in awe, looking at Yuffie's tummy.

Silence.

Yuffie instantly reached under the skirt of her dress and removed the pillow from underneath it over her tummy (and no, they didn't see her underwear coz she's wearing her shorts). "Oh… sorry…" she said with a sheepish smile on her face, showing to them the round pillow.

Silence.

Zack just smiled weakly and waved "hi" at everyone in the room.

Cloud instantly growled, "BAAAAAH!!!!!" and raised his Ultima Weapon at him. "AARGH!!! IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" Zack yelled in sudden panic before hiding behind Yuffie.

Cloud put down his weapon. "Just kidding." He said with a poker-faced expression on his face.

Silence.

Zack wanted to die.

Sephiroth started to laugh.

The others were puzzled.

"What… whatcha foo's doing here?! And how'd you get past the guards?!" Barret demanded in surprise.

"Yeah! It's already past curfew!" Cloud pointed out, offering seats to the two.

"Erh… it's… this…" Yuffie began, showing to them the pillow.

Zack fainted.

"What the--?!" she reacted in confusion and surprise.

"I think you scared him too much, Cloud," Vincent pointed out.

Rufus kept on redialing the number of his Old Man's mobile phone, but nobody was answering. "Bloody hell," he muttered in annoyance before checking the time on his watch. He blinked, realizing that it is 6 in the evening in Junon, while in Midgar, it's already 8:45pm. "He could be at the Honeybee Inn at this moment and his phone's in silent mode and he can't feel it vibrating probably because it's not with him..." He realized before putting down his mobile phone on his bedside table and proceeded with his packing. He just received a message from Heidegger that the Black Death will be used tomorrow at 7 in the evening. He wanted to go back to Midgar early during the next day because he wants to inform Cloud and the others. For some reason he could not contact Cloud's mobile phone anymore… and the landline. It's like his Old Man disconnected all the lines in the lower sectors.

He turned to Dark Nation who was asleep on his bed before looking quite poker-faced at his things. Deep inside, he was beginning to worry.

Sephiroth and Vincent just sat on the former's bed in one corner of the room while eyeing the unconscious Zack lying on the latter's bed.

"Why'd you have to put him on my bed?" Vincent asked softly in monotone as if he couldn't believe what was happening to them at present. They were both stranded on the other bed and did not have the energy to move and get Zack off the room anymore because Aerith instructed that they take Zack to their room so that he could rest and when they attempted to protest, Lucrecia began to nag them about being nice to Zack.

"Question is, why our room?" Sephiroth muttered miserably as he leaned against the wall. "Bloody hell! Where am I going to sleep!?" Vincent asked in confusion.

"The floor?" Sephiroth suggested.

Silence.

"There are no more spare mattresses because they're using it for Yuffie in the girls' room." Vincent replied glumly.

"You can sleep beside me. I don't mind… just the fact that you're my mommy's boyfriend…" Sephiroth told him with silly smile on his face.

"That's it; I'll just stay with your mommy in the other room since she's got her own room, even if it's small…" Vincent began before he got up, but Sephiroth instantly grabbed his hand and restrained him, "NO! Don't leave me here with _that_!" he begged.

"Why not?" Vincent asked.

"In the Lifestream, he kept on complaining about not being with Aerith. What if that guy wakes up and does the same damn routine? I'll go crazy!!! That's the main reason why I had to send him away from the hospital when we got back here in Gaia!" Sephiroth pointed out.

Vincent just stared unbelievably at him, "I can't believe you did that!" he pointed out.

"That guy is nuts. He's bonkers about Aerith… and when he found out about Cloud and Aerith wanting to _meet_ Cloud… and also finding out about some of his memories getting transferred to Cloud… Goodness… you should see how somewhat obsessed he's become in getting Aerith back to himself!" Sephiroth narrated with an annoyed look on his face.

"I never knew you were concerned about Cloud and Aerith's relationship." Vincent began with a look of awe on his face.

"Well I wasn't… until Zack came along. He's really bothering her in a way… and also bothering me and Rufus, asking things about Aerith from us." Sephiroth ranted.

Vincent just nodded his head slightly while eyeing the unconscious Zack in pity.

To their surprise, Zack stirred while uttering something which to them sounded like "Yuffie". And he slowly opened his eyes, surprised to see Sephiroth and Vincent just seated on the other bed across the one where he's lying and staring strangely at him. He instantly got up as he let out a gasp. "What the--?! Where am I?! Where's Yuffie?" he demanded.

"Chill out, porcupine-head. She's in the other room with Tifa and Marlene." Sephiroth snapped rather irritably at him.

Zack just gaped at them. "Wh… what?" he asked.

"You fainted, Zack." Vincent pointed out as he got up and went over to him, inspecting the paleness of his face. "How are you feeling now?" he asked.

"Uhm… just… fine… is Yuffie alright?" Zack asked with a worried look on his face.

"She's alright. She's already asleep, I guess. It's late." Sephiroth said.

"How late?" Zack asked curiously as he looked around the room, trying to get familiar with his new surroundings. "1 in the morning." Sephiroth explained.

Vincent went back to Sephiroth's bed and sat down on it, but keeping an eye on Zack. "I guess Cloud gave you quite a shock tonight, huh?" he asked.

Zack just nodded rather uncomfortably upon remembering the events that happened earlier that evening. "Uh… yeah… I never expected it… really… uh…" he stammered weakly before he slowly got off the bed and rubbed his forehead with his right palm, "Can I see Yuffie and check if she's alright?" he asked.

"She's alright. She already told us what happened to you guys earlier that's why you had to come here with her wearing a disguise like she's a pregnant woman." Vincent explained.

"Is she alright?" Zack insisted with a worried tone as he eyed them rather helplessly. He was still not feeling well, and Vincent knew it just by looking in his eyes. He looked too tired and still a bit dazed. "She's alright, buck-o. She's with Tifa and Marlene." Sephiroth told him as he crossed his arms. He was getting rather impatient.

But Zack insisted, "Can't she stay here with me? I'm her bodyguard and…" he began, but Sephiroth cut him off, "Ho! Wait a sec, man. You're taking this bodyguard thing too seriously. You sound like another version of Cloud Strife with an Aerith!"

Zack fell silent upon hearing that.

Vincent just cleared his throat, "How long have you been with Yuffie already?" he asked with a kind tone, since he noticed that almost everyone seemed to be mean towards him.

"Around… two years…" Zack said weakly, lowering his gaze to the ground. "I need to see her now… just to make sure she's alright. Please?" he asked softly.

Sephiroth eyed him for a moment with a stern look on his face before gesturing for the door. "Go ahead." He said. Zack looked up at him and smiled in relief. "Thanks, boss." He said as he got up.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him, "Boss?" he asked in confusion.

"Hey, you were our commander way back in SOLDIER, remember?" Zack asked, smiling at him before staggering to the door. He opened it and got out of the room, shut the door and went on his own way to the other room.

Sephiroth turned to Vincent. "Go to sleep now before the guy returns." He instructed.

Vincent just shrugged and went over to his own bed and plopped down. "Did you just make him go so that he'll leave the room for good and while he's gone we can hog his space?" he asked.

Sephiroth just snickered evilly and got up from his own bed, rushed to the door and bolted it. "Hell yeah." He said before plopping down on his bed again and covered himself with a blanket. "G'night." He said.

Tifa instantly opened her eyes, glaring sleepily at the door when she heard someone knocking and then saying, "Yuffie, can I come in?"

She just grunted and turned to her right side, putting a pillow over her head to muffle the sound. She envied Marlene who wasn't such a light sleeper compared to her.

Impatiently, Tifa removed the pillow from over her head and said rather sarcastically, "Yuffie, I think it's for you,"

Silence.

"Yuffie?" she turned to the other side to check if the Wutaian girl is still sleeping on the mattress on the floor beside her bed… and realized that there was no one there. "Bloody brilliant…" she muttered miserably, thinking that Yuffie moves a lot while sleeping, so she must've ended up under the bed. Since she's so sleepy and tired, she just shrugged it off and decided to sleep again despite the knocking from outside.

Meanwhile, Zack was wondering why nobody was answering. Carefully and discreetly, he opened the door and peeked inside, "Yuffie?" he whispered softly, hoping to get a response this time.

Tifa and Marlene were sound asleep on separate beds; the bed of the former by the window on the right side from where Zack is standing, and the latter's bed opposite the former's. A mattress was on the floor on the space between the two beds. The mattress had a pillow and a messed up blanket but there was no Yuffie. "Where is she anyway?" he thought to himself, starting to worry. He frowned slightly while thinking, "What if… she went off to go to her dad?" and stepped out of the room, closing the door and then rushing back to Vincent and Sephiroth's room. He tried to open the door but realized that he had been locked out by either one of those… "Most likely Sephiroth…" he thought miserably before shaking his head in dismay and decided to just go downstairs. "So unfair…" he was muttering in despair. He went straight to the front door, but he stopped when saw Yuffie from the corner of his eye just lying on the couch and sleeping there while the TV is on the news channel. The news consisted of the "missing" Lord Godo and his daughter. He raised an eyebrow as he listened to the news. He realized that ShinRa must have reported that Lord Godo is missing so that nobody would suspect that they were the ones who held the man hostage. Carefully, he switched off the television but when he did so, Yuffie woke up. "Huh?" she sleepily looked at Zack and smiled gently, "Oh… hello." And closed her eyes again.

He shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe you're sleeping here?!" he told her.

She just yawned. "Tifa snores." She muttered.

"No she doesn't. I went inside and…" he trailed off. She instantly sat up and stared sleepily but suspiciously at him. "You're over Aerith but you're now after Tifa?!" she demanded.

"NO! I was checking on you to see if you're alright! I was worried about you, you know?" he asked. But she just lied back down on the couch again and closed her eyes comfortably.

He silently observed her. He just shrugged and looked outside the window, seeing some ShinRa Soldiers patrolling around the area as if searching for something. He instantly closed the drapes. "Shit…" he muttered before deciding to just sleep in the living room and guard Yuffie in case those SOLDIERs did an ambush or something… but Red XIII was occupying the other couch opposite the one where she was seated. "IT'S SO UNFAIR!" he wailed in agony.

Red XIII opened his eyes and growled at him, "Pipe down, will you?" and fell asleep again.

Zack muttered while staring miserably at him, "It's so unfair…" he muttered before turning to Yuffie. He cringed. "If I sleep beside her, they might think I'm a lecher." He thought. He just shrugged and sat on the floor and decided to lie down there… but it only took him a few moments before he realized that he was itching because of the dust mites… or maybe Red XIII's fleas, he wasn't sure, but he just got up and decided to lift Yuffie's head slightly but gently for a moment as he sat down on the couch where she was sleeping and then just let her head rest on his lap. He got the pillow and placed it behind his head and leaned backwards on the couch. In a moment, he fell asleep.

The next day when Zack woke up, it was already past nine in the morning and Yuffie was not there anymore. He turned to the couch opposite to him where Red XIII had been sleeping last night, but the big red animal wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was Lucrecia knitting socks while Vincent was drinking some tea and eating crumpets. Sephiroth was seated beside Vincent (Vincent's seated in the middle of Lucrecia and Sephiroth) and surfing channels.

Zack turned to Tifa who was seated on a chair which she had probably dragged from the living room and she's reading the entertainment section of the magazine while Cloud was reading over her shoulder, remarking, "She shouldn't have done that. Now her life's ruined."

Tifa turned to Cloud with a ridiculous look on her face, "I knew it! She's your favorite actress!" she pointed out.

"Whassat?" Sephiroth asked.

"It's nothing," Cloud told him with a rather embarrassed look on his face.

"It's Cloud's favorite actress. She hooked up with President ShinRa. It's so disgusting!" Tifa pointed out.

Lucrecia and Sephiroth both said "Yuck" in unison before proceeding back to their activities.

Cloud just moved away from Tifa and grabbed himself another chair from the dining room and seated himself beside the couch where Sephiroth, Lucrecia and Vincent were seated.

Zack noticed that nobody's sitting beside him… "How come it's like you guys are avoiding me?" he demanded, feeling rather insulted.

Nobody answered.

"It's so unfair!!!" he wailed.

Tifa flipped onto the local news section of the newspaper… and saw the headlines, "Rufus is here!" she read out loud.

"Great. Just in time when we need him." Cloud reacted.

"So we'll get help from him too later?" Sephiroth asked.

"He'll probably help us without us telling him anyway, I just know," Tifa said with a wink before proceeding to read and looked at Rufus's picture taken by the media when the chopper landed earlier. "He arrived rather early today… I thought he'd be arriving late this afternoon," Lucrecia pointed out.

"He looks rather different. Look at his hair," Tifa pointed out, showing the photograph to the others.

"What did he do to his hair?" Cloud asked in awe while looking at Rufus's picture.

Zack couldn't see well so he just said, "Why? Is he bald?" he asked.

All eyes turned to him, "No. His hair's not gelled back." Tifa pointed out.

"Oh." Zack said softly before he got up and stretched. "Where's Yuffie?" he asked.

"Upstairs bonding with Aerith," answered Tifa blankly.

"Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet?"

Aerith sighed as she twisted Yuffie's locks gently. "Yuffie, if you stop squirming so much, we'd be finished sooner…"

"But my neck is starting to feel sore," Yuffie protested, moving her neck a bit.

"We're almost done. Look, your hair is a bit prettier now." Aerith turned the rotating chair Yuffie was sitting on so that she faced the mirror. Yuffie gasped at her reflection. "Wow!" she giggled, tilting her head sideways. She certainly looked different; even though Aerith wasn't finished braiding her hair, it looked pretty already. "… Wow!" she repeated. "I think I fell in-love with myself back there."

Aerith laughed. "Almost done."

Yuffie tried her best not to move. "Does braiding hair really take that long?"

"Well… I'm making yours a bit unique," Aerith replied as she made the final twist. "Ah! There you go!" and moved away from Yuffie, grabbing a hand mirror and handed it to her. "Check if it's just the way you want it." She instructed.

Yuffie got up and turned her back to the mirror while holding the hand mirror and looking at the back of her head with it… and her eyes blinked in awe.

Aerith giggled. "You like the color green, right? That's why I used green ribbons for your hair." She said happily.

"Whoa… this is so cool!" Yuffie said in total happiness. "What's this hairdo called again?" she asked.

"Twist. Why do you want me to do that to your hair anyway? If people were to tell us apart just by looking at our backs minus our height difference, they might not be able to guess right away who is who!" Aerith pointed out with a silly smile on her face.

"Well… I just thought I'd like something else to happen with my hair since it's so long and…" Yuffie stammered before putting down the hand mirror on the dresser while avoiding the look from Aerith's eyes.

"Is this the first time you had your hair long?" Aerith asked. "Well… not really. My mommy had long hair when I was a little girl, and she didn't want to cut mine, so it was really long… up to my hips! But I don't tie it. My mom just puts a headband around my head…. It's actually the bandanna that I wear around my head all the time. Nyuk nyuk." Yuffie explained, and then laughing in the end. "I see… but why'd you cut it?" Aerith asked in curiosity as she sat down on the bed.

Yuffie bowed down her head for a moment, her pleased smile softening. "She died. And my dad said that I should take my training seriously… and since it's hard for a ninja to move around with very long hair, I had to cut it and maintain it that way." She said before going to her friend. "Thanks so much, Aerith!" she said happily.

"And I think you'd better keep your hair that way for tonight's mission." Aerith pointed out with a wink. Yuffie laughed gaily, "Yeah…" and proceeded to the door. "I'm hungry. I think I'll eat again!" she said.

"I'll be downstairs in a moment. I just have to check on Cloud's dirty laundry and bring it downstairs with me. Will you help me prepare lunch today?" Aerith asked as she went to Cloud's side of the bed.

"Well… if you don't mind Wutaian food, I can cook. Nyuk nyuk nyuk." Yuffie said with a wink before stepping outside the room, headed for the stairs and descended quickly while yelling, "Whee!!! Guys! Guys! Check me out!!!"

All eyes turned to the girl who just came from upstairs. Cloud was the first one to react, "Aerith, what are you wearing--?!" he trailed off when he realized that it wasn't Aerith.

Yuffie giggled. "You like it?" she asked happily while jumping around.

Everyone fell silent.

"For a moment, I thought Aerith shrunk!" Sephiroth reacted with a look of disbelief on his face.

"It looks nice on you, Yuffie. Aerith did that?" Tifa asked with an impressed look on her face.

"Yup! Ain't she great?" Yuffie asked happily.

Zack just stared in awe at her.

Aerith came down the stairs with a basket of Cloud's dirty clothes. "You sound so excited, Yuffie," she said.

Zack frowned upon seeing Aerith, and then turned to Yuffie. His thoughts were shouting, "WHY?!" but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud so he just sat still and said nothing while listening to Lucrecia and the rest remarking nicely about Yuffie's new hairdo.

Then everyone was quiet and staring at him, as if they're waiting for him to say something about Yuffie's hairdo. He blinked in awe. "Wh… what? What did I do? Is there something wrong with my face?" he asked in confusion.

Yuffie just frowned, feeling her heart sink. She lowered her gaze to the ground as Sephiroth told him, "Aren't you going to say something nice about Yuffie's hair?"

She just walked away, going to the kitchen where Aerith had gone to. They heard her say, "Step aside, Aerith. I'll cook lunch today!"

Lunchtime consisted of authentic Wutaian cuisine (in our world, it could be a combination of Japanese and Chinese dishes). Everyone enjoyed the food even though they were really surprised that Yuffie can actually cook something like those. Zack was very quiet all throughout the meal. For some reason, he could not express his thoughts about the things going on around him. He felt so confused… and he has never felt so confused like the way he is at that moment.

After lunch, Sephiroth decided to help Barret prepare the explosives and the weapons that they are going to use for the mission that night. Cloud and Vincent also offered to help, but Zack just stayed in one place, observing them as they worked. Lucrecia also helped the men prepare the explosives by using her scientific knowledge in making bombs.

"Hey hedgehog! Don't just sit there. Help us out here!" Sephiroth snapped at Zack, surprising him.

Zack jerked slightly as if he was under a trance until his ex-commander from SOLDIER actually talked to him. "Uh… right… yeah. Sure." And smiled weakly as he walked rather shakily to them. "So… what do I need to do?" he asked weakly.

Barret and Vincent stared strangely at him. "Are you alright?" the latter asked curiously.

Before Zack could answer, they heard Yuffie calling out, "Zacky!!!" while running towards them. Zack turned around to look at Yuffie. "Yeah?" he asked casually, but the look on his face seemed troubled.

Yuffie ran to him and grabbed his right hand, "C'mon! I want you to train with me! Get your buster sword and chase me around with it and I'll throw shuriken blades at you and you dodge them while trying to attack me! Heehee!" she said excitedly.

"Wh…wha?" he stammered, but couldn't find the words to say further what he wanted to say.

"C'mon!" Yuffie said stubbornly.

Zack just stared at her.

She slowly let go of him as her smile faded away. "A…alright… if you don't want to… I'm sorry if I'm bothering you," she said softly before running away from them and just decided to go upstairs. Zack attempted to call out her name to stop her, but no sound came out from his mouth. His throat felt so dry.

"Whoa… is _that_ Yuffie? She seems different!" Barret remarked in awe before turning to Zack. "What did you do to her?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Lucrecia asked.

"She's the most stubborn girl I know! Tha' foo' won't stop 'til she gets wut she wants! And she juz left, changin' her mind about training without botherin' dis hedgehog foo' further over here?! I must be dreamin'." He replied in disbelief before proceeding with his work.

"What's wrong with you? You haven't been speaking much to her ever since this morning," Cloud pointed out to Zack all of a sudden. The question struck something in Zack which made him feel a bit offended. "I… I try to… but… there seems to be nothing to say…" he said softly, feeling uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked.

Zack just stared blankly at them.

Vincent looked away before saying, "Sometimes, the best and the loudest words can come in the form of silence."

Sephiroth laughed mockingly at him, "Mwahahahaha! That has got to be the cheesiest line I've ever heard of!" he pointed out.

"Oh, there's plenty more where that came from," Lucrecia told him with a wink. Vincent looked unbelievably at her as she giggled and said, "Vincent used to write me lots of love poetry. He's very romantic indeed."

Sephiroth tried to suppress his laughter while staring unbelievably at Vincent. Vincent just stared at him with a blank facial expression on his face but his eyes were saying, "Just try to insult me…"

Sephiroth just shrugged and raised his hands to him as if expressing surrender and turned away, biting his lower lip to stop himself from smiling. He really wanted to laugh.

Zack just decided to walk away.

"Hey foo'. Don't forget! We'll assemble at 5:00!!!" Barret called out to him.

Rufus impatiently checked his watch. It read 5:00. Ever since he arrived in ShinRa, he had been called to the Conference room with the other executives and the Turks by his father. No one was allowed to go out or make phone calls. President ShinRa required everyone to be inside the conference room while the SOLDIERs are installing the Black Death bombs in the lower sectors that needed to be wiped out.

Rufus felt desperate deep inside; he wished he could do something… but it was too late when he found out that the Black Death had been completed just the other night before he arrived in Midgar. "Bloody hell… if something bad happens to _them_, I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself…" he thought silently with a stiff look on his face as he kept his eyes on Dark Nation who was just seated by his side and staring worriedly at him.

"Rufus, get your cat out of here!" President ShinRa snapped impatiently at him.

Rufus jerked slightly before turning to his father, "She's been here ever since you locked us up in here but it's only now that you've noticed that she's here?" he asked in annoyance.

"Your cat has no business here." President ShinRa told him.

"Why do you have to lock us up here anyway?" Heidegger asked in confusion.

"Hahahahaha! Because Black Death is being installed. All of us should be here so that we can be sure that nobody outside the walls of ShinRa could blame us. They'll think that we're just having a meeting here and that AVALANCHE was the one who made those. The people will blame them for the death of all the people from Sectors 5 to 7." Hojo explained.

Rufus just turned to Dark Nation. Dark Nation wiggled her nose and said "Meowrrrr…" She sounded displeased about something.

Suddenly, Rufus had an idea… he got his notepad and started writing something on it. President ShinRa was talking to the others that's why he didn't notice what his son was doing... and in a nick of time, Rufus was finished. He carefully tore off the page and folded it and stuck it in Dark Nation's collar. He patted her head gently and stroked her ebony black fur. "Find AVALANCHE. Give to any of them the note." Was his instruction through a soft and low whisper as he leaned closer to his cat, which sounded like a vague murmur to the rest. President ShinRa stopped talking and stared at his son curiously. "What?" he asked.

Rufus gently slapped Dark Nation's side and she got on her feet and went to the door. "I just told her to go out just like what you wanted." he reasoned.

With that, President ShinRa began to talk to the others again.

Zack and Yuffie are Group 4 in Barret's plan. Just like Group Two (consisting of Aerith, Tifa and Elena), they are assigned to patrol around the building, but since they were a bit unfamiliar with the whole place, they just decided to join forces with the second group.

The five of them were already inside the building by 6:00, equipped with their own Materia (except for Zack and Elena) and weapons.

"I think we should go to the surveillance room first." Tifa suggested.

"There's no time for that. We'll just kill those who will attempt to stop us." Zack suggested.

"But that will just worsen the situation. If word reaches the President, the plan is ruined," Tifa pointed out.

"Zack is right. There's no time for…" Yuffie trailed off when Aerith, Elena and Tifa stared unbelievably at her but they weren't able to say something at first. They had been noticing that something was going on between Yuffie and Zack but they were not sure what it was.

Gathering enough courage, Tifa just blurted out, "Yuffie, you've changed."

Silence.

"So? I'll be 18 this November. I have every right to change… to mature…" Yuffie muttered before turning to Zack.

"But you don't sound like yourself!" Aerith pointed out.

Yuffie just stomped her foot impatiently. "So what?!" she snapped angrily.

"Meowrrr…"

Silence.

"What was that?" Zack asked in confusion.

"It sounded like… a big cat…" Aerith said softly with a worried look on her face. What if it was a monster from the laboratory?

"OH MY GAWD!!! Let's run for it!!!" Yuffie said before rushing off. Zack followed after her, but the others remained still. Tifa turned around and looked at one corner when she heard the click of a gun. A SOLDIER was already aiming his gun at them.

Aerith gasped slightly and moved backward a little.

Elena frowned slightly and attempted to get her gun from her pocket, but the SOLDIER warned them not to move or else he'll shoot.

"Bloody hell…" Tifa muttered to herself. Then, from behind the SOLDIER, a big black thing just pounced out of nowhere and landed on top of him, scratching his hands badly so that he would let go of the gun.

"Dark Nation!" Elena exclaimed in relief.

It was a chance for the girls to knock the SOLDIER unconscious before he could call for back-up. Tifa made sure she hit him hard with her fist and he got knocked-out instantly. Aerith cast a sleep spell on the SOLDIER just to really make sure that he wouldn't wake up from Tifa' blow immediately and remain asleep for as long as they are there.

"Darkie, what are you doing here?" Elena asked, patting the big animal's head.

Dark Nation sniffed her, then Aerith, then Tifa. The big panther-like animal gazed up at Tifa and sniffed her again. "Meowrr?" and purred happily.

Tifa mindlessly clutched the locket that she was wearing. She had been wearing it for two years already. She received it as a Christmas Present/thank you present from Rufus. When she opened it, there was a picture of a woman with jet black hair in braids and blue eyes. She wondered who it was but forgot about it afterwards. Since then she never opened it again but just wore it. She just makes sure that her friends or anybody else could not notice the ShinRa logo etched onto its silver front.

"I think she likes you," Elena told Tifa with a relieved smile on her face.

Tifa just smiled weakly as the big cat guided her hand to its collar until she was able to see the folded paper. She frowned slightly before she took the note, unfolded it and read it out loud for her friends to hear, "Black Death is being installed in Sectors 5-7. Explosion will be at 7:00. Evacuate ASAP. Rufus."

All of them felt their hairs rise to their ends…

Black Death.

"Oh no… People are going to die…" Aerith said softly with a worried look on her face.

"I thought… we've disposed of the formula?!" Elena asked in confusion.

"Hojo could've had a back-up…" Tifa trailed off when more SOLDIERs arrived. "Damn!" she reacted in surprise.

"Get them!" the commander told the other SOLDIERs.


	11. Black Death

They Live!!!

By GQ and Zhak

GQ's note: seems to be acting all screwy when it comes to uploading... so in between paragraphs, I just wrote "--break--" because if you're reading this right now in , the indentions and the spacings between paragraphs have disappeared... I'm sure. And QuickEdit wouldn't even load in my browser for some reason ever since yesterday. Forgive the bad layout. Feh.

Chapter Eleven: Black Death

"Sir! Sir!" a Second-Class Soldier entered the Conference Room with an excited look on his face and went straight to President ShinRa and then saluted in greeting.

"What is it?" President ShinRa asked as he got up from his chair.

"We caught three of them!"

Rufus's eyes widened upon hearing that.

"Three of what?" President ShinRa demanded.

"Three from AVALANCHE… including Elena."

The Turks' eyes widened, but Reno was the only one who was able to react in shock, "WHAT?!" he demanded.

President ShinRa sneered and smiled slyly. "Bring them to my office this instant!" he said before proceeding to the door. "Come, my executives!" he summoned the rest to follow after him.

Rufus felt dumbfounded. "Shit…" he thought in annoyance as he instantly got up. When they got to the hallway, he went to the other direction. He knew he had to do something.

President ShinRa snapped at him, "Where are you going?!"

Rufus did not answer; he just continued to run going to the emergency staircase.

--_break--_

"Y'know, we shouldn't have run away… what if something bad happened to them?" Yuffie asked.

Zack just kept quiet and continued to walk.

Yuffie shrugged. "To make it up to them, let's just go to the surveillance room and disconnect the wires." She told him before looking up at the high ceiling above them, "Do you know where it is?" she asked.

He did not answer.

"You once worked here… you should know right?" she asked.

No answer.

"Oh well, we'll just find it on our own…" she said softly, but she was already beginning to get impatient because he hasn't been answering. She stopped walking and clenched her fists, "What's wrong with you?" she demanded.

He stopped walking but did not look at her.

She went over to him. "Zack," she began.

"Please take off your ribbons and let your hair loose." He said softly without looking at her, but he had a stern expression on his face and a bitter look in his eyes. She was surprised by what he said. "Wh…what?" she asked.

He impatiently turned to face her and grabbed the end of her twisted hair and yanked off the ribbon holding it in place and then yanked off the other ribbon. He dropped them on the floor. She was surprised by what he just did that she was speechless at first, but then in fury, she was able to blurt out with a shaky tone, "What did you just do?!"

He stared helplessly at her, "I want you to be yourself!" he said with a helpless tone.

"You want me to what?" she asked in shock.

"What's with the hairdo?! And your long hair… goodness, Yuffie! I'm just glad you're not wearing pink!" he snapped at her rather annoyingly, which really shocked her.

"Wh…what?" she asked.

"Don't try to hide it from me… you're _torturing_ my thoughts! I've already forgotten about Aerith but… but… here you are and…" he couldn't bring himself to say more things about the way he was really feeling.

She was shocked by what he said.

"Yuffie, what is your problem? What happened to you?" he asked in annoyance.

She just bowed down her head and stepped away from him. "Okay, I'm sorry… I… I just felt… neglected, that's all… so I thought, why not be perfect? Perfect just like Aerith? Since you like her… so that maybe you'll like me too!" she admitted with a shaky tone. She sounded like she was about to cry.

Zack was surprised by what she had just revealed to him. _ …so that maybe you'll like me too!_

It lingered around his head for a several moments before he struggled to say something else, but it was too late; because SOLDIERs were already coming their way.

Yuffie felt drained… and tired… she was too shocked and affected by her relationship with Zack plus the situation of her father, and then along came the SOLDIERs… it was already becoming too much for her.

Zack got his Buster Sword and turned to Yuffie, "Yuffie," he said, giving her a signal to fight alongside with him. But he noticed the blank look in her face… and the tears in her eyes…

--_break_--

"I think something bad is going on…" Sephiroth muttered to himself as he watched Cloud type the password into Hojo's computer.

Vincent grabbed his gun and shot the surveillance camera recording their activity. "It's bothering me." He said before turning back to Cloud.

Sephiroth scratched his head. "I'm really being bothered by the feeling that _something_ is really going on upstairs in the 70th floor and it's so bad that if it persists, I'll really feel guilty of not doing something about it!" he pointed out rather restlessly. Vincent could interpret the look in his eyes, realizing that if Sephiroth did not go upstairs to check on the situation, he'd snap. "Then go upstairs. Who's stopping you?" Cloud told him.

Sephiroth thought for a while before asking, "You sure the two of you can handle things here?"

"Duh." Cloud muttered as he continued to work. With that, Sephiroth walked out of the laboratory.

Vincent shook his head in disbelief, "I think he's not yet over the _insanity_ stage…" he said.

"What made you say that?" Cloud asked, stopping for a while and staring at the monitor as if doubting if he had typed the right password or not.

"It's like if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll just snap and start killing people again… and put the whole city in flames… and then summon Meteor." Vincent replied.

"Hmm… but Lucrecia is here to restrain him, right? And you too… since I think you'll be playing the role of his new father very soon," Cloud said with a slight smile on his face before pressing the backspace button and then retyped the password.

Vincent's eyes widened upon hearing that. "Sephiroth as my son? … he's more of like a… a close friend." He said.

"A father as a friend, that'd also work. That way, you won't keep secrets from each other. I think that can help maintain a good relationship between father and son." Cloud pointed out.

"And how do you know?" Vincent asked curiously, knowing that Cloud isn't even a father yet.

"Just based on observation… look at Rufus and his Old Man… then there's Tifa and her father from way back. And Marlene and Barret. And there's Yuffie and Lord Godo… and Barret just gave me a book about being a father yesterday for my birthday." Cloud explained before turning to him with a solemn smile on his face, "…and I'll be one soon in 8 months or so…"

Vincent stared unbelievably at him. "Aerith is--?" he had managed to say.

Cloud looked away from him and pressed the _enter_ button and soon, all the files were exposed to them. "The recycle bin is hungry." He said with a sly smile on his face.

--_break--_

Elena just kept her eyes on the ground as President ShinRa approached her and studied the guilty look on her face. He lifted up her chin so that he could take a better look at her face. He sneered at her, "It's nice to see traitors like you back here in ShinRa…"

She just swallowed hard. She couldn't move away because a SOLDIER was restraining her. Just like Tifa and Aerith, her hands were handcuffed behind her back and her feet are bound together by chains. She turned her gaze to Reno, Rude and Tseng who were just standing in one corner of the 70th floor near the President's desk and looking at her rather apologetically.

Aerith just kept her eyes on the ground as she listened to President ShinRa's footsteps approach her. "Aha… Ifalna and Gast's daughter…" he stopped before her and smiled rather slyly at her. "How do you feel right now?" he asked.

She just frowned.

"You'll be rotting in Prison as far as I'm concerned, Miss Gainsborough." He told her mockingly before proceeding to Tifa. Upon seeing her, he frowned and stared closely at her. "Hmm… you look somewhat… familiar," he said softly while eyeing her.

Tifa slowly lifted her gaze onto him.

The Turks felt nervous.

President ShinRa looked at her from head to toe… and stopped his gaze when he saw the silver locket with the ShinRa logo engraved on its front. "What is this…" he felt so shocked. He instantly got hold of it, surprising everyone especially Tifa. She tried to move away from him but the SOLDIER standing behind her held her still. President ShinRa opened the locket, revealing to him the picture of the beautiful lady with black hair and blue eyes. He instantly let go of the locket and looked at Tifa unbelievably, "Where the fuck did you get this?" he demanded.

She refused to answer.

He grabbed hold of the locket again and snatched it off her neck, breaking the silver chain. "Where did you get this?!" he yelled angrily at her. She felt pain burning the back of her neck caused by the forceful breaking of the chain.

"What's that, President ShinRa?" Scarlet asked in curiosity.

"This belonged to my wife! I gave it to her as an engagement gift!" President ShinRa snapped angrily before sneering at Tifa, "I don't know how it got into your hands but…" Tifa cut him off, "Your son gave it to me,"

Everyone fell silent.

"What?" he demanded.

"Rufus gave it to me as a Christmas present two years ago during his birthday…" she said softly with a stern tone.

"It's supposed to be with _his fiancée_! I told him to give it to his future wife! Why the hell is this with… you…" President ShinRa stopped talking when he realized something. He clenched his fists. "You…" he began.

She just bowed down her head.

The other executives were surprised upon realizing that Tifa is the one introduced to them as Rufus's fiancée. "Is this some kind of a joke?!" Heidegger demanded in shock.

"No, it's not." Tifa said softly.

"But… YOU?!" Scarlet demanded in shock.

President ShinRa clenched his fist and hit Tifa's left cheek as hard as he could. She cringed in pain but she didn't react further like scream or anything like that, even if blood trickled down from her left nostril and from her mouth… and also from the wound created by the force of the President's ring scratching against her face. He looked at her in disgust, "You _deceived_ my son… tricking him to believe that you're from the upper class… how dare you…" he began.

"I did not trick him he…" she stopped when everyone turned to the person who just arrived in the scene.

It was Rufus.

The young Vice-President could not help but gape in awe at Tifa, Aerith and Elena, then at his father. "How did…" he had managed to say, but he saw that Dark Nation was also being restrained by five SOLDIERs; his cat's feet were being held by cuffs made especially for big animals like her and there was also a muzzle on over her face so that she could not bite. Her tail was wagging sadly as she let out a sad "Meowrrr…" to Rufus.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded in anger as he marched over to his father while pointing at Dark Nation.

"Your cat is helping these rebels! You ought to discipline this feline of yours, otherwise, I'll be forced to throw her out in the streets and you can never see her again!" President ShinRa scolded.

"You have no right to do that to her! She's an animal, not a person!" Rufus told him. Suddenly, all his angry emotions just spurted out of his soul… and he could not stop them anymore… He will make sure his father realizes that what he has done is wrong… and everything that he has ever done is wrong too.

"And you have no right to speak to me that way after what happened to _this_," President ShinRa showed him the locket… and for the first time, it's like his cold exterior broke and everyone could see the vulnerability in his blue eyes…

President ShinRa turned back to Tifa again and grabbed her arm, dragging her to Rufus. "Is this slut your fiancée? Huh?!" he demanded.

Tifa swallowed hard, looking at Rufus with a helpless look on her face. "He's going to lie about me… I know it… to save himself the humiliation that he's working with AVALANCHE…" she thought bitterly to herself. She wanted to cry.

"Tifa is not a slut." Rufus muttered under his breath as he grabbed the locket off his father's grasp. "And you have no right to touch this after what you have done to mother." He sneered.

Hojo shook his head and turned to the window, looking outside. "Hahaha…10 minutes before explosion," he declared.

"What?!" Aerith and Elena both said in unison.

"May I have your permission to go down to the laboratory now and wait for the right moment before I could press the button?" Hojo asked, turning to President ShinRa.

"Go ahead." President ShinRa said.

With that, Hojo exited.

"You people are monsters! Innocent people are going to die!" Aerith yelled at them.

Scarlet and Reeve just turned away, looking outside. The whole of Midgar looked so peaceful at night… but there were no stars in the skies. The Turks bowed down their heads. They wanted to do something… to stop the President from continuing with his plans, but they don't know how.

"Rufus, this girl tricked you! She is not the daughter of a rich couple from Gongaga! Besides, Gongaga is a poor country! This slut just tricked you into believing that she's from Gongaga and she's rich because she wants your money!" President ShinRa told Rufus.

But his son just glared angrily at him, "Tifa did not trick me. She did not lie to me. _We_ talked about it." He said. And everyone heard the click of his shotgun. All eyes turned to him. President ShinRa's eyes narrowed on him as he revealed to them the shotgun that he was concealing under the tail of his long vest from its secret pocket. "Release these hostages, Old Man. They're with me." He said as he aimed the shotgun at his father's head.

President ShinRa did not even move when he felt the cold tip of the shotgun touch his forehead. He just stared coldly at his son. "You traitor." He sneered.

Rufus just kept his eyes on his Old Man without saying anything. President ShinRa smiled slyly at him, "So, you've been working with AVALANCHE all along, huh?" he asked before he instantly grabbed the shotgun and tried to snatch it away from Rufus's grasp, but his son's grip was too strong. "Curse you! I didn't raise you to become like this!" President ShinRa growled angrily at him. "Don't just stand there! Help me!!!" he snapped at his executives and at his Turks. Heidegger and Palmer were the only ones who came to President ShinRa's aid.

Reeve shook his head and just walked away, with Reno and Tseng following after him.

"What the--- you fools!?" President ShinRa snapped angrily at the others who just walked away.

"Let go, you fat bastard!" Rufus snapped angrily at his father who was still insistent on getting the gun away from him. Palmer and Heideggger were also trying to get the gun away from him, but Rufus just held on to his weapon while trying to push the three fat men who were assaulting him.

The SOLDIERs found it rather funny that three big fat men could not even handle one person whose body mass is way lesser than theirs. A few of them started snickering, puzzling the hostages and also Scarlet and Rude who just remained in their places.

Tifa just bit her lower lip, observing the situation while trying to stop herself from smiling (hey, imagine it… it looks funny!) because she knows that it's a wrong time to be amazed and laugh at the bad situation. She never realized that Rufus was _that_ strong… or maybe the three fat men are weak? She wasn't sure. Aerith and Elena were already talking about it.

"Oh my…" Aerith said softly in awe.

"Wish I had a camcorder. This is priceless!" Elena told her.

"Let go, Old Man!" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"You will suffer bad consequences, you useless brat!" President ShinRa snapped angrily at him.

Scarlet looked at President ShinRa, Heidegger and Palmer… they all looked so ridiculous… "Kyah… pathetic…" she muttered before heading over to them and decided to just stop them from harming Rufus. "Kyah! Stop it!" she snapped impatiently with an annoyed look on her face.

"Beat it, Scarlet!" Heidegger snapped at her.

"Stay out of this, Scarlet! Unless you want another salary deduction?!" President ShinRa sneered at her.

She gasped and moved away from them, feeling offended. Her red lips formed a disdainful pout as she clenched her fists and glared scornfully at the men. With that, she stomped her way to Tifa.

Tifa felt her heart race all of a sudden in fear that the "evil woman" might do something really bad to her. To everybody else's surprise (including hers), Scarlet kicked the junk of the SOLDIER restraining Tifa and pushed him away from her. With that, she got a hairpin from her head and picked the lock of Tifa's handcuffs.

"What are you doing?!" President ShinRa snapped angrily at Scarlet as he left Heidegger and Palmer to take care of Rufus.

Scarlet did not reply. She just continued to pick the lock.

President ShinRa grabbed her by her hair, making her gasp in pain. "You slut… what are you doing?!" he demanded angrily.

She just smiled slyly at him, "Something that I should've done years ago. I'm tired of these… disgusting… disgusting shit of yours!" she hissed.

President ShinRa angrily punched her in the abdomen, making her fall to the ground and telling the other Soldiers to get her and put her in Prison. With that, he grabbed Tifa from behind, wrapping his arm around her neck and then aiming a gun at her forehead. "Rufus!" he called out with a sadistic tone.

Rufus froze when he saw what his father was doing.

Tifa just kept still. "Don't mind me, Rufus… I'll be alright. Do what's right!" she told him with a shaky tone and a weary smile on her face.

Rufus mindlessly loosened his grip on his shotgun, giving Heidegger and Palmer the chance to grab it away from him. The former just grabbed Rufus's hands and placed it behind him, putting handcuffs on his wrists.

President ShinRa let go of Tifa and pushed her to the ground. She landed before Rufus's feet in a kneeling position. She swallowed hard and slowly lifted up her gaze to him. He looked down apologetically at her.

"Take them to Prison. All of them!" President ShinRa ordered.

--_break--_

While those events were on-going, Sephiroth was using the stairs to reach the 70th floor, but when he reached the 69th, he stopped in his tracks when he heard footsteps descending.

It was Hojo.

Hojo stopped when he saw Sephiroth staring up at him. He smiled. "Well, well, well… if it isn't my best specimen ever…" he said as he further descended the steps until he was already standing before the tall silver-haired man.

Sephiroth looked down coldly at him. He could not understand why Hojo was his father… because of the height difference. Sephiroth is way taller than him. He asked that question before, but Hojo insisted that it was the work of the JENOVA cells in his body that made him taller than him.

"Where are you going?" Hojo asked.

"Up there," Sephiroth mentioned.

Hojo looked at him from head to toe. "You've changed…" he said softly. Sephiroth just stared coldly at him. Hojo smiled calmly and said, "How's your mother?" he asked.

Sephiroth just glared at him and tightened his grip on his Masamune. "Mother is alright. She and Vincent are together." He said.

Hojo's smile faded. "What?" he demanded.

Sephiroth smiled slyly at him. He loved seeing Professor Hojo getting angry for a reason that he couldn't understand. "In fact, the two of them are getting hitched next month. Don't worry, I'll make sure they _ invite_ you." He said mockingly before he pushed Hojo aside and proceeded upstairs, but Hojo grabbed his wrist and held him in place. "Thank you for letting me know, Sephiroth. And where I ask do they reside at this point?" he asked.

Sephiroth eyes narrowed as he stared straight ahead of him towards the wall facing him. "Sector 7. What's it to you?" he asked.

Hojo smiled slyly. "Well… even if they do invite me to their wedding, I'm sure I won't be able to come… because they'd be dead by then." He said.

Sephiroth frowned upon hearing that. Hojo continued, "Nine minutes from now, the people from Sectors 5-7 will be dead. The Black Death has been completed… and has been installed in unthinkable places in those sectors. The Black Death will cause big explosions in those places and the smoke and will mix with the gas that will be released from the tubes… and everyone who will make contact or sniff the gas and smoke will instantly die. They're gonna be falling to the ground like dead flies! Hahahahaha!"

"You are sick," Sephiroth muttered before pushing Hojo away from him and turned to face him with a disdainful look in his green Mako eyes.

"What's wrong with you? I thought you loved seeing people die?" Hojo asked in surprise. Sephiroth just stared at him. Hojo clenched his fists. "You've changed… so much… what did Lucrecia do to you?" he asked. Sephiroth did not answer. Hojo took a step forward to him and shouted angrily, "What did Vincent do to you?! Did he brainwash you?!"

Sephiroth just smiled solemnly at him. "What they did to me? Things that you have failed to do to me…"

"Like?" Hojo demanded in annoyance. He could not take it when others are better than him.

"Love, understanding and care." Sephiroth sneered as he revealed to Hojo his weapon. Hojo was quiet for a few moments before frowning at him and looking at him in regret. "I should've known you'd be such a failure… I should've killed you when you were in your mother's womb when I discovered that _you're not really mine_!" he revealed scornfully.

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "What?" he demanded in shock.

Hojo laughed at him. "You are not my son… you belong to Vincent… I can't believe Lucrecia made me believe that you're mine… but you're not! You want proof? Ask your bitch mother and your bastard father!" he told him mockingly. Sephiroth felt so stunned. "Why… why didn't you tell me earlier? Why only now?" he asked with a shaky tone. Hojo could see the insanity returning in his green Mako eyes and he smiled victoriously. "Yes… be angry… and start destroying again… and everyone will blame you for the death of everyone in Sectors 5-7." He was thinking silently to himself as he watched Sephiroth lower his gaze to the ground in confusion and regret. Sephiroth's trembling left hand slowly traveled up to his head and clutched his forehead tightly.

"And your mother didn't tell you about it?" Hojo asked.

"N…no. She didn't." Sephiroth said softly.

"That's unfair, isn't it?" Hojo asked.

Sephiroth just swallowed hard and looked at Hojo again with a look of disbelief on his face. Hojo just shrugged at him. "Well, I'd better go down now… the controls for the Black Death are in the laboratory. It's programmed in my PC and I'd better go there now if President ShinRa wants to follow his schedule… oh well, but if ever I don't make it in time, it'll go on automatic mode and will start a 10-second countdown on its own and it'll be all over for those poor Sectors." he pointed out casually before proceeding down the stairs.

Sephiroth's grip tightened around the handle of his Masamune and lunged forward to Hojo.

Hojo had anticipated that attack, so he instantly grabbed his gun and faced the deranged silver-haired man again and fired. Sephiroth got hit in the right shoulder but he was still able to stab Hojo with the Masamune (thanks to its length). Forcefully, he pinned the mad scientist against the wall, making him wail in pain and agony. Sephiroth flashed him a deranged smile.

Hojo's eyes widened at him.

"I should've killed you when I found out that my real mother isn't JENOVA." Sephiroth sneered before pushing further the Masamune through Hojo until it penetrated further through the wall, making Hojo yell in pain, his grip on his gun loosening, causing him to let go of the weapon, letting it drop to the floor. He was confused. Sephiroth is not even affected by the bullet wound. "Wh…why are you still standing?" He had managed to ask.

"You've been experimenting with me ever since before I was born. You should know my bodily composition by heart, Professor Hojo. How come up to now you still don't know that I am a _special_ boy and I can't easily be affected by ordinary bullets?" Sephiroth hissed coldly as he further pushed the Masamune through Hojo until he was able to come closer to him, looking at him straight in the eye. "And as Rufus had pointed out, it's that kind of dullness that makes you a second-rate scientist…" the hilt of the Masamune touched Hojo's stomach.

His eyes went blank and he opened his mouth to say something to Sephiroth; probably a curse… but no sound came out… just blood that leaked out from it, staining his own clothes and dripping onto Sephiroth's right hand. Knowing that Hojo is dead, Sephiroth let out a victorious laugh. "Mwahahahahaha! Hojo Kebab, anyone?" he retorted before withdrawing the Masamune from Hojo, and as he was doing so, more blood leaked out, staining the floor and some even splattered upon his black clothes and boots… and he was muttering, "Oh yuck. Yuck… ew… gross… yuck… yuck… yuck…" as the blood splattered on him. When he finally got the Masamune out of Hojo, he examined the bloody blade and the blood dripping from it, further staining his hands. "Mommy's not going to like this… she'll be complaining about doing laundry again… oh well…" he stated flatly with a worried look on his face before proceeding downstairs. "Better inform Cloud and Vinny about the controls…" he muttered to himself. And he stopped in his tracks. "Vinny? Shouldn't I be calling him _daddy_? Hmm…" he thought. He just shrugged. "Better ask mommy first if it's alright. Mwahahaha." He decided.

_--break--_

The SOLDIER pushed Tifa and Rufus inside the prison cell. She landed on the floor while Rufus still managed to keep his balance, but he hit the wall. "Ow! Bloody hell… you're going to get fired once I get out of here, you bloody Soldier you…" he cursed angrily.

The SOLDIER shrugged at him, "Just doin' my job, sir." And shut the door, locking it.

Rufus rushed to the door but stopped in his tracks, clenching his fists frustratingly, thinking if he should start pounding on the door and start yelling hysterically, but he figured that he didn't want to lose his poise/composure whatsoever… so he just frustratingly turned back to Tifa with a disappointed look on his face. "ARgh!" he growled in frustration before walking over to her, helping her up.

"This is your first time in prison, huh, Rufus?" asked a voice from the other cell to their left.

"Zack?" Tifa asked in disbelief.

"Heheh… It's so unfair, huh? I got caught too." Zack said.

"Well… then… where's Yuffie?" she asked in worry as she walked over to the left wall.

"Right here…" Yuffie called out with a frustrated tone. She's in the other cell to their right.

Tifa and Rufus realized that Yuffie is in the prison cell with Elena, while Aerith is in the prison cell with Zack. The two of them exchanged stunned looks with one another.

"What's unfair about being in prison? You're with _Aerith_ there, am I right?" Yuffie called out to Zack.

"Why the hell are you so jealous about Aerith!!!???" Zack demanded impatiently.

"I'm not jealous. I am _annoyed_ that you're with her!" Yuffie snapped angrily.

"Oh please, stop arguing," Aerith told them.

"SHUT UP!!!" Yuffie yelled angrily, making everybody jump up in surprise, including Rufus.

"Yuffie, calm down!" Elena told her.

"Stay outta this, blondie," Zack told Elena rather harshly. Elena gasped in shock. "What the--…" she got up from the bed and went over to the left wall of her cell with Yuffie. "Hey, Hedgehog, Porcupine or whatever name everybody calls you…" she began in annoyance.

"Oh no… everybody sounds angry now…" Aerith said softly, covering her face and falling into her knees, not knowing what to do.

"Okay, the question is, why did they have to separate our cells, Zack? While we could just be like Tifa and Rufus over there in the other cell _together_?! Huh? Now that's unfair!" Yuffie pointed out with a sarcastic tone and then laughed.

"Why don't you ask the guard?" Zack asked.

"I don't know, why don't _you_ ask the guard? Oh! I know why you're not asking the guard! Because you enjoy Aerith's company there! Hah! I knew it!!!" Yuffie cheered sarcastically, but Elena could easily see the hurtful look in her eyes.

"Yuffie, why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Elena asked with an annoyed look on her face.

"Because it is such a big deal! GAWDS!!! Why can't anybody understand?!" Yuffie snapped angrily.

"You know, we wouldn't be here in the first place if you helped me fight those SOLDIERs!" Zack told her.

"And so now you're blaming me? Fine! Then it's a big failure in my part because I couldn't defend myself because I felt so low and so disgusted at myself that I'm the most unattractive female in the group, huh?!" she snapped.

Silence.

"What?" Rufus asked in confusion, not being able to get the situation and the reason why Zack and Yuffie are fighting.

"Hey nobody ever said that you're unattractive, Yuffie," Zack pointed out.

"I know that! But the way things are going… it seems… like… so…" she sniffed and just went to the bed and sat down with a scornful pout on her face as she crossed her arms.

Elena went over to her and sat down beside her, giving her a friendly and comforting hug. "Shh… it's alright… it's alright, just let it all out…" she said softly with a gentle smile on her face. Yuffie began to cry. Elena patted her back gently, "What's wrong with you anyway?" she asked.

Yuffie just continued to cry.

Aerith got up and placed her hands on her hips while glaring angrily at Zack, "Now look what you've done! You've made Yuffie cry!!!" she snapped at him before approaching him and pushed him against the wall, surprising him, "What did you do to her? Huh? How dare you make my friend cry…" she sneered at him rather threateningly. It scared him. "H…hey… calm down… I… I don't even know… I…" he stammered stupidly.

She just turned away from him and headed for the door. "Oh dear… this whole situation is so wrong…" she said with a worried look on her face. Zack watched as she lowered her gaze to her lower abdomen and touched it. "…my poor Sora…" she said.

"Sora?" Tifa asked out loud.

"I'm going to have a baby! It's my first month already! Heehee! And it's a boy!" Aerith announced.

Silence.

"How the bloody hell did you know that it's going to be a boy?" Rufus demanded in confusion.

"I just know! The _voices_ told me! Heehee!" Aerith giggled proudly.

Silence.

"And you already named it. Cool." Zack said with a pleased smile on his face. "Congratulations, Aerith," he said.

She just glared at him. "Stay away from me," she snarled.

"It's so unfair!!!" Zack wailed.

"Damn, I think I'm going to pass out…" Rufus muttered in annoyance before proceeding to the bed while clutching his head in confusion. "I'm getting a migraine…" he muttered.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to massage your forehead?" Tifa asked.

"No, I'll be alright… I just need some sleep…" Rufus told her uncomfortably before lying down on the hard mattress. "Oh… bloody hell… you call this a mattress?!" he said out loud in disgust.

"Rich kid's first time in prison. Please forgive him," Zack said with sarcasm.

Rufus just rolled his eyes and then turned to his hand. He realized that he's still holding the locket. He handed it to Tifa who was sitting on the floor by the bed. "Here you go. I'm sorry about Old Man." He apologized.

She smiled gently. "Th…thank you…" she said softly before putting it in her pocket. They both listened to Yuffie still crying from the other cell, and Zack complaining from the other.

"Pipe down! Rufus is going to sleep!" Tifa told them.

"What-everrrr!!!" Yuffie and Zack both yelled in unison.

Silence.

Tifa rolled her eyes. "Look, if you two are going to just argue about… about your relationship, then do it _somewhere_ else!" she snapped. She was beginning to get impatient.

"Like, where? GAWDS!!! Tifa? Why are you such an airhead?! How can we argue _somewhere else_ if we're stuck here in this effing prison?! GAWDS!!!!!" Yuffie demanded.

Tifa's mouth dropped open in shock. "What?!" she demanded.

"Y'know, I just read in astrology that Taurus people are airheads so they're always in their know-it-all mode to hide the fact that they're really airheads and that they---." Yuffie pointed out with a know-it-all tone.

"I beg your pardon?!" Tifa demanded as she got up.

Rufus grabbed the pillow and covered his face with it. "Oh bloody hell…" he muttered miserably.

"I think this has gone too far!" Aerith said out loud with an annoyed tone. "Yeah!" Tifa pointed out.

Zack rolled his eyes, "Yuffie, you're a Scorpio, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, so?" she asked.

"You're a water sign and Tifa's an earth sign. You're supposed to be more or less comfortable with one another…" he began.

"Well the water flooded the earth too much," Rufus muttered.

"Will you stop it with the astrology crap?! Yuffie, please… stop it… you're making things worse for us. We should remain calm in this kind of situation and you're just trying to make everybody else angry!" Aerith said impatiently, surprising everybody else because she said the word _crap_ and she sounded really serious and angry at Yuffie and Zack.

Everybody fell silent.

"Must be the mood swings a pregnant woman usually has…" Rufus whispered to Tifa. She just nodded in agreement.

Aerith approached Zack. "What exactly happened to the two of you?" she asked.

"I… don't know…" Zack said in confusion.

"You know," she told him.

He just kept quiet for a few moments as he bowed down his head. Aerith gave up and shook her head in disbelief before deciding to just sit down on the bed away from him… and then he spoke up, "I… thought I'd never get over you… but then I did… and realized that… it was just a fling from way back when we were together. I was so selfish. I'm sorry, Aerith. And then there's Yuffie who… somewhat changed. It's like she's turning into you… and I didn't like the fact that she was trying to be you because…" he looked up at her. "… how can I try to be more close to her if I keep seeing you in her? That'd be so unfair in my part because I don't love you and I want to love the… the real…" he trailed off when he realized that the two people from the other cell to their right were listening. He turned his head to the wall and yelled, "Har har, nice try, Tifa and Rufus! Thank you for eavesdropping!"

Tifa blinked. "How did he know?" she whispered.

"Beats me…" Rufus muttered as he moved away from the wall and went back to bed.

Aerith smiled calmly at Zack. "You want to love the real Yuffie?" she asked.

Zack blushed slightly. "I feel so ashamed…" he muttered as he covered his face with the pillow. Aerith laughed at him, "There's nothing to be ashamed of… I somewhat… know how you feel right now… well, I felt that way too with Cloud." She said.

He slowly removed the pillow from his face and looked at her with a dumbfounded look on his face. She just smiled at him, "I wanted to meet him… the real him… behind the Zack exterior. Remember what Hojo did to him? Sephiroth had explained it to you in the Lifestream, right?" she asked him.

He nodded weakly. "Oh… yeah… I remember it now…" he said miserably before leaning back on the wall. Then he sat up straight again. "Wouldn't it be awkward? I mean… she's… so young! And…" he stopped when she just laughed. "What's so funny?" he demanded in shame.

"Zack, she'll be around 19 or 20 this November, I'm not sure… but… she seems to act a bit more mature now compared to before. She seldom yells GAWDS anymore… I don't know what you did to her but I congratulate you." She said with a smile on her face.

He just nodded his head with a slight smile on his face. "Well… I guess it's an accomplishment in my part as her mentor…" he stated flatly, feeling unsure.

Then they heard Yuffie crying again and Elena saying, "Aww, Yuffie, will you please stop that already?"

"I think she wouldn't stop crying unless we switch cells." Aerith told Zack.

"Come to think of it… I'm really worried about her whenever she's not with me… I guess she's just kinda grown on me… in those two years that we've been together?" he told her.

Aerith nodded. "And I think she's the same with you…" she said softly.

They didn't know that on the cell next to theirs is Lord Godo's cell… and he has been listening attentively to their "private" conversation about Yuffie.

_--break--_

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" Sephiroth was shouting as he entered the laboratory again. Vincent and Cloud were surprised upon seeing him again. "I thought you're upstairs?" the latter asked in confusion but froze when he saw the blood on Sephiroth's clothes and on the Masamune's blade.

Sephiroth looked down at himself, realizing how bloody he was despite the blackness of his clothes… and just shrugged it off and turned back to Cloud and Vincent, "I was supposed to go upstairs but I ran into Hojo and…" he trailed off when he saw the time. "Shit!" he cussed in shock when he saw that it's only 2 minutes before the programmed explosion begins. He instantly rushed to the PC and shoved Cloud aside and began to search for the program monitoring the Black Death's activity. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…" he was cussing repeatedly as he searched for the program… and turned to the system tray, seeing an icon that looks like a clock. He instantly grabbed the mouse and clicked it, and a window appeared onto the monitor. It was the program for Black Death.

"What's that?" Cloud asked.

"Black Death. We have to disable the program so that Sectors 5-7 will be saved," Sephiroth explained.

"What?! But…" Cloud began.

"Hojo was able to finish it just in time… and it's been instantly activated and programmed to work on their own with this program." Sephiroth told them.

"But how do we disable it?!" Cloud asked in sudden panic.

"Does Barret know about this?" Vincent asked.

"I don't fing know! This is so sudden!" Sephiroth snapped in annoyance.

"How come Rufus didn't even inform us about it?!" Cloud asked in confusion.

"I don't know!" Sephiroth said as he began to scan the controls. "Which of these… which of these…" he pressed "enter", but the speed of the clock only increased. "AAARGH! What did you do?!" Cloud demanded as he shook Sephiroth rather violently.

"ARGH! Let go of me! I didn't know!?" Sephiroth protested in confusion as he pushed Cloud away from him.

"Oh dear… oh dear… oh dear… I think it just got worse…" Vincent said with a worried look on his face.

Sephiroth turned to him. "Hey, you're an ex-Turk. You should know how to work with these!" he told him.

Vincent blinked. "M…me? But I…" he began, but the two pushed him towards the PC to let him work on his own. "Wh…what will I do?!" he asked in confusion.

"C'mon, Vincent, you can do it." Cloud urged.

"But I don't know this program!!!" Vincent pointed out in confusion when he realized that it's only 10 more seconds before explosion. "Oh no…" he thought silently. He doesn't know what to do… and the world is going to blame him for the death of many people… and he'll go insane because of it. "NO! I won't let another misfortune come into my life!" he decided impatiently before his left claw reached for the wiring and unplugged the whole system.

The lights fluctuated for a moment and then stopped.

"What did you just do?" Sephiroth asked.

Silence.

They weren't talking for around five minutes, as if anticipating a loud explosion.

"Well?" Cloud asked.

"I don't know… I think I made things worse…" Vincent said softly with a frightened look on his face.

Sephiroth went over to the window and took a look outside. He frowned slightly. "Everything appears to be normal… I don't see any smoke." He told them.

Silence.

"Does this mean… we disabled it?" Cloud asked.

Silence.

Sephiroth and Cloud cheered in delight. Vincent fainted.

"What the--?!" the two had managed to say in surprise.

"Is he alright?" Cloud asked as Sephiroth went over to Vincent to check on him.

"I think he got too excited back there… Mwahahahaha." Sephiroth pointed out with a silly smile on his face before lifting Vincent off the ground and carried him. "So what now?" he asked.

Cloud stared at them for a while in silent confusion before shrugging… then they heard the sound of explosions…

"What was that?!" Sephiroth looked up at the ceiling when the lights started flickering again and went off. The emergency lights switched on.

"I think those are just the Mako Reactors…" Cloud said… and he remembered something. "Wait a sec… aren't we supposed to assemble at 6:45 in the President's Office?" he asked.

They both looked at the clock and it read 7:15. "SHIT!" Cloud cussed in annoyance before leading the way outside the laboratory. "Barret's gonna kick our asses," he muttered to Sephiroth.

"Hell yeah," Sephiroth said.

CLUNK!

Sephiroth hissed in pain as if his head was the one that hit the doorway. Cloud stared unbelievably at him. "What did you just do?!" he demanded.

"I was in too much hurry and I… hit Vincent's head on the doorway… Mwahaha…" Sephiroth replied sheepishly.

"Man, how do we know if he's still alive or something?! What if he gets a concussion or you cracked his skull and he doesn't wake up anymore?" Cloud asked in panic.

"I think he's alright. He's still breathing." Sephiroth figured out with a calm look on his face while looking at the unconscious Vincent.

With that, they proceeded to the President's Office.


	12. Laments

They Live!!!

By GQ and Zhak

Chapter Twelve: Laments

Barret just stood still by the emergency staircase and the door leading to the President's Office while listening to President ShinRa ranting to Heidegger, Palmer about his one and only son turning into a rebel and that he doesn't know what to do with him anymore. Barret and Red XIII kept on glancing over at the corpse of Hojo. "I wonder who did that?" Red XIII asked discreetly.

"He's in prison already, right?" President ShinRa asked helplessly before sitting down on his chair.

"Yes sir…" Heidegger said.

"Who else?" President ShinRa asked.

"He's in the same cell with Tifa… Zack and Aerith are together; Yuffie and Elena… then there's Scarlet and Reeve… and then Reno, Rude and Tseng." Heidegger explained.

"I can't believe those… Scarlet, Reeve, and the Turks! They're all… traitors… dammit!" the President furiously pounded on the table as he got up and hissed at them, "I want capital punishment on all of them!"

Heidegger and Palmer were stunned. "Including Rufus?" the latter asked.

"Including Rufus." President ShinRa said coldly.

"But… but…" Heidegger stammered.

"I don't care if Rufus dies! So what if Rufus dies?! I have children by other women! I can simply pick from them!" President ShinRa snapped before proceeding to the window to take a look at the situation outside. He frowned when he realized that the whole area isn't too smoky… and that the smoke is just coming from the Mako Reactors that had just exploded moments ago. "What is happening to the Security system of this place?!" he yelled in annoyance.

"The SOLDIERs are already searching the area for more AVALANCHE members." Palmer began.

"What about Black Death?!" President ShinRa demanded.

The two fell silent.

"Explosion should've happened at around 7:00… it's already 7:45 and the only explosion I've ever heard tonight came from the Mako Reactors!" President ShinRa told them as he faced them again. "Palmer, go down to the laboratory and check on Hojo." He instructed.

"Y…yes, sir," Palmer said with a worried look on his face before leaving the office, deciding to just use the stairs since the elevators do not work during power failures and the generator is still weak.

"Shit… Lard-Man approaching…" Barret muttered in annoyance before moving downstairs with Red XIII, just in time when Palmer opened the door to go down… and screamed when he saw the corpse.

Palmer went back to the office, panicking and shouting.

Barret calmed down a little. "Foo'… let's get to the prisons and free 'em!" he told Red XIII before leading the way downstairs, but they stopped when they heard footsteps coming their way. "Shit… foo'! Soldiers!" Barret realized, preparing to fire just in case they get attacked.

Red XIII sniffed the air and stopped Barret. "No. It's just Cloud, Vincent and Sephiroth." He said. Barret blinked. "Huh?" he wondered.

Finally the, three arrived. Vincent still looked dazed even when he had awoken the second time Sephiroth accidentally hit his head on the wall when they were climbing up the stairs.

"Foo's! Y'all are late!" Barret scolded.

"We know… and we're sorry. But if we had to stop Black Death from killing the citizens. Turns out that Hojo has programmed it to activate on its own if ever nobody touches it. We just disabled the program moments ago," Cloud explained with a frown on his face.

"What?! Black Death?!" Barret asked in shock.

"Yeah… and Rufus didn't even warn us!" Sephiroth muttered.

"How could Rufus warn us if he's in prison with the others?" Red XIII asked.

"What?! Rufus is in prison?" Cloud asked in awe.

"President ShinRa discovered that he's working with us. We have to go down there now and free 'em and then get out of here!" Barret told them.

"I'm not going anywhere until I kill that Old Man." Sephiroth snarled before proceeding upstairs.

"Wait, Sephiroth…" Cloud began, but it was no use stopping an angry Sephiroth. They just decided to follow him.

--_break--_

"Hojo is what?" President ShinRa repeated in disbelief.

"He's dead, sir! His corpse is there in the staircase and…" Palmer began, but President ShinRa immediately turned to the 15 SOLDIERs standing guard in the same area. "Go and see!" he commanded.

The SOLDIERs obeyed, but froze in their tracks when they saw Sephiroth and the rest of AVALANCHE.

President ShinRa, Heidegger and Palmer were surprised upon seeing them. "What the…" the President had managed to say as he clenched his fists. "Say goodbye to the Planet, President," Sephiroth sneered dementedly as he charged at him with his Masamune ready to stab him.

Cloud, Vincent and Barret distracted the SOLDIERs so that they would not harm Sephiroth.

President ShinRa got his gun and attempted to shoot Sephiroth, but the bullets do not seem to be bothering him… and then he felt the Masamune pierce through his left chest and through his heart… and through his back. The last thing he saw was Sephiroth's sinister smile. "Just like before… this time, without your son's orders." He sneered at him. President ShinRa's eyes widened upon hearing that. His son hated him that much enough for him to order for Sephiroth to kill him for the first time…

And he breathed out his last.

The SOLDIERs were stunned upon what happened… and they realized that they are next to die.

Heidegger and Palmer were both shaking in fear but they could not do anything else but gape at the dead body of the President.

Barret sighed. "Finally… is it over?" he asked.

Cloud, Red XIII and Vincent went over to Sephiroth who was still gazing down at the dead President. They watched as Sephiroth pulled out his Masamune from the President's body. "I'm surprised at what you have done," Vincent began with a disapproving look on his face.

Somehow, they all felt that Sephiroth should've just let the Old Man live and just imprison him in Junon… but then again, it was too late already.

"He deserves it…" Sephiroth muttered under his breath before wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his bloody gloved hand, staining his forehead in the process. "Oh no…" he realized what he had just done to himself. "Now mommy's really going to get mad at me…" he muttered.

Barret just laughed at him, "Enough of the worry, Mama's Boy! Hahahaha." He teased. Sephiroth just snorted at him.

--_break--_

Rufus stared blankly at the wall. "How long do you think we'll be staying here?" he asked dully.

Tifa shrugged. "I don't know… maybe… as long as Cloud and the others do not find us, we'll be here for maybe a couple of days…" she said rather miserably as she remained seated on the floor.

"You look uncomfortable there," he stated flatly.

"No, it's alright…" she said flatly. He noticed a bruise forming on her left cheek as well as the drying blood. "Old Man did that to you, huh?" he asked softly. She did not answer at first but just rested her forehead on her knees as she crouched in fetal position. "I'm alright… I'm just… worried about the people outside… are they dead yet?" she asked rather fearfully. He got a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Tifa as he jumped off the bed and landed on the floor beside her and sat down, slowly lifting her chin so that she could look at him while he wiped the blood off her face carefully. "I don't think the explosion was caused by Black Death. It could be the Mako Reactors because the lights flickered and then the emergency lights switched on." He pointed out.

"You think so?" she asked wearily, and then she was surprised when she saw the white handkerchief that he was holding. It was her present to him. She embroidered his first name on it with red thread (actually, she asked Aerith to teach her how to embroider only at that moment when she desperately needed to give him something for his birthday). "Oh dear… I can't believe you're using _that_…" she said in shame.

"Huh? Oh this one? It's actually my favorite." He said plainly. "I got it during the masquerade ball Old Man had for me and… well, you. But I don't know whom this one came from." He said. She felt stupid. "How come?" she asked casually.

"Well, there was a card, but it just said, _Dear Rufus, may you have a very wonderful birthday and many more years to come. I am so glad to have finally known the real you behind the cold exterior. Take care; I'll always be thinking of you. Love…_ That's all there is. I spent the whole night pondering about who could've written me such a splendid card but did not sign it… that's why I was able to memorize the lines. Heh heh," he said with a slight smile on his face.

She bit her lower lip as she felt her ears getting red. She just turned and moved away from him with an uncomfortable look on her face. "Maybe it's your secret admirer…" she said casually while laughing smugly.

"Secret admirer? Hmm… but she says she had known the real me… oh never mind…" he said.

"Hmm… but do you have any guesses on who it is?" she asked shyly. Rufus thought for a while before shrugging. "Well, for a moment, I thought it was you… but then again, why would you even…" he trailed off when he realized what he had just said. She was looking at him with wide crimson eyes. He just turned away from her and just kept quiet. She blushed and smiled rather shyly as she coyly moved closer to him. "Why would I even what?" she asked softly. He did not answer.

She continued, "Why would I even write a card like that and give it to you with that handkerchief?" she asked. He still refused to answer. He pretended to be uninterested, but it's in his eyes that she could see that he was hiding something. She bowed down her head. "What if I… wrote it and then… even had a crash course in embroidery just so that I could give you that present?" she asked softly, cautious about her surroundings… because it's like those walls could easily hear them.

He turned to look at her curiously. "Why would you even do that?" he asked.

A trick question that if she isn't cautious enough, she could reveal her true feelings. She just stared at him for a few moments before she decided to move away from him. She felt somewhat ashamed of what she had almost done.

--_break--_

From the other cell where Yuffie and Elena were, the two were curiously listening to the conversation of the two. "What happened?" Elena asked.

"I can't hear them anymore… you think they're making out?" Yuffie asked with a silly smile on her face.

Elena giggled excitedly. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! That'd be so sweet!" she said happily.

"Gawds, it's just like listening to Radio Drama!" Yuffie pointed out as she moved away from the wall and just sat down on the floor with a solemn look on her face. Elena noticed the change in her mood. "There is something wrong with you! What is it?" she pointed out as she sat down beside her.

"I told you it's nothing…" Yuffie muttered miserably before tugging at her own hair and stared at it with a sad look on her face. "Am I pretty, Elena?" she asked sadly.

Elena was surprised by the question. "You're asking the wrong person, Yuffie. I'm a girl! If anybody else hears us, they'll think I'm a lesbo," she said with a disgusted look on her face as she flipped her hair and got up, plopping down on the bed. "Hmm… I think this bed is better than my Turk bed. Hee!" she remarked with a silly smile on her face. "Anyway, why are you asking me that question? Coz you know, I think you shouldn't feel so insecure about what other people will say about you whenever it's negative, I mean, look at me, I receive bad remarks from Reno telling me that I'm flat-chested and he keeps on comparing me to girls with bigger boobies than me and at first I kinda found it soooo annoying that I told Mister Tseng about it but he just laughed and told me to ignore Reno since he's always seeking attention and so I just decided to ignore those bad comments because I realized that if I let those bad comments get to me, I'll just drive myself crazy just thinking about them and they'll just ruin my relationship with others and I don't want that to happen because y'know by nature I'm such a friendly person and I'd like to be that way because it's what makes me happy, making friends, and if I don't make friends I'll end up regretting life and when I regret life I might kill myself and if I kill myself that's bad and I might not go to heaven instead go to hell and I wouldn't want that to happen because I'm scared of demons and demons are bad and when they're bad they can do worst things to you and…"

"Alright, alright, alright!!! Enough already!!! GAWDS!!! Elena, you talk too much!" Yuffie pointed out.

Silence.

Elena just giggled. "Oh I'm sorry. Teehee! Sometimes I just get carried away and I blab and blab and blab and I don't even realize it until somebody tells me otherwise but I don't really know why I'm like this but my mom used to tell me the same thing, y'know, that I talk too much and I guess it ticks her off but maybe she was considerate because she said that I'm just like my dad who talks too much too but I guess it's alright because…" she trailed off when she noticed Yuffie glaring annoying at her. She covered her mouth in shame. "I'm doing it again, huh?" she asked sheepishly. Yuffie just turned away and pouted. "Do you have some scissors or even a dagger or a Swiss knife?" she asked.

"Well… I had a Swiss Knife, but they confiscated it because they put us here, remember?" Elena asked.

Yuffie just sighed miserably. "When I get out of here, I'll cut my hair and just sulk in one place…" she muttered.

Elena instantly sat up, "Awww, why that kind of attitude?" she asked in disbelief.

"Because ugly girls don't have a place to go! I feel so… ugly… and unpleasant… it's like I'm the ugliest girl in the world!... I mean, what's so nice about me?! I'm short and I envy your height because you're around… 5'6", I guess… and I envy Tifa because she's _well-endowed_…" Yuffie began.

"Well-endowed?" Elena asked.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "It's one of those euphemisms for _big boobs_, if you know what I mean…" she explained miserably before continuing, "And Aerith is… gentle and loving… and everybody loves her including the stray cats and dogs because she's just too caring and she's just like an angel! I hate it whenever the three of us are walking down the street and then all the boys will turn to look at us… and just stare at the two of them like they're the goddesses of beauty and splendour while I'm… nothing." She felt tears falling down from her face.

"Why are you saying those things?! They sound so horrible! Ugh… Yuffie, nobody is ugly! Everyone's got their own beauty! Others may not be able to see it but I'm sure someone else can! Someone who truly understands you!" Elena pointed out.

Yuffie turned to her. "Do you?" she asked.

Elena made a face, "Girl, you're asking the wrong person." She muttered.

"Why?" Yuffie asked.

"Because I think that _every person_ is… beautiful!" Elena said with some optimism in her eyes.

Yuffie just made a face at her, "What about Palmer? You call _that_ beautiful?" she sneered.

Elena's smile faded as she looked away and her facial expression changed from joyful to stiff, "Pshaw… that's another story." And turned back to Yuffie with a sweet smile on her face, "Oh come on, Yuffie! What's really bothering you? Why are you thinking about those things?" she asked. Yuffie just looked away and sulked. "Nothing…" she muttered… and pounded an angry fist on the floor when the thought of Zack entered her mind. "GAWDS!!!!!" she screeched in extreme anger which really surprised everyone else who was imprisoned in the same area.

And she began to cry.

Elena thought for a while before declaring, "Alright, I'll guess what it is, and if it's correct, you won't cut your hair and just let it be. Simple huh?"

Yuffie stared unbelievably at her, "That's the most ridiculous deal I've ever heard of!!!" she pointed out in annoyance.

"I know, isn't it fun?!" Elena asked cheerfully.

Silence.

Yuffie just slouched and turned away. "Shoot." She signaled.

Elena thought for a while before saying, "Alright, here's my guess: It's got something to do with a boy not noticing you, but you like him, right?" She saw Yuffie's eyes widen as she jerked slightly; with that, she proceeded, "Hmm… and I think that guy is…" she trailed off to give it more thought. Yuffie was beginning to get nervous. "OH MY GAWD!!!!! Please guess it wrong, please guess it wrong, please guess it wrong…" she was thinking quietly with a frantic look on her face.

Elena gasped and pointed a finger at her, "IT'S ZACK!!!!!" she screeched.

Silence.

"You called, Elena?" Zack chimed in from the other cell.

Yuffie fainted.

Elena jumped up in joy, "Whoohoo!!! I guessed it right!!! I guessed it right!" she cheered happily, dancing victoriously, then stopped to look at Yuffie lying on the floor unconscious. "Uh… Yuffie? You alright?" she asked curiously. Then, to her surprise, the door just opened, making her jump up and shrieked for a brief moment and realized that it was only Reno and Rude. "Oh… hi," she greeted in curiosity.

Silence.

"Reno!!!" Elena ran to him and embraced him tightly while shedding tears of joy. "Waaaah!!! I missed you!!!" she wailed, making him feel perplexed. Rude just shook his head in disbelief.

"H…hey… easy now," Reno said rather embarrassingly as he patted her back gently.

She looked at him and stopped crying. "Hey… you escaped?" she asked in awe.

"Ahem,"

They turned back to the door and there was Sephiroth with a prison access key in his grasp. "The President is dead." He announced. It turns out that he had also freed Scarlet and Reeve and they were standing by him together with Barret and Red XIII.

"So… that means…" Reeve began.

"Kyah! Rufus is the President now!" Scarlet rejoiced as Sephiroth went over to the next prison cell to free Tifa and Rufus.

"Uhm… wha happened to Yuffie?" Barret asked in curiosity while staring strangely at the unconscious Yuffie on the floor.

Elena giggled. "Oh nothing. It's just between the two of us. Heehee!" she said happily.

"Okay, just take her out of here. Where's the Hedgehog?" Barret asked.

"I think he's in the same cell where Aerith is." Reno replied.

Silence.

"Please don't tell that to Cloud." Barret began before he walked over to the cell where Aerith is, "Yo Aerith, ya alright?" he called out.

"Oh, Barret, it's you!" she said happily.

Barret freed them. "There ya go." He said. Aerith gave him a hug. "Oh thank you!" she said happily. Barret looked accusingly at Zack. "You sure that guy didn't do anything bad to you?" he demanded suspiciously.

Zack swallowed hard. "N…no, Mr. Wallace, Sir… I wouldn't do anything bad to Aerith." He said, fearing for his own life.

"Actually, he did try to do something bad…" she said softly.

"WHA?! YA FOO'…" Barret became enraged.

"What?! NOOO! IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" Zack wailed in fear.

Aerith giggled as she held Barret back, "I was only kidding, Barret. Teehee!" she said before proceeding out of the cell. Zack regained his composure. "So unfair…" he muttered before he rushed out of the cell and went over to where Yuffie is. "Yuffie! Yuffie!!!" he was shouting rather frantically.

"Ugh… how unrefined! Pipe down, you porcupine! You'll wake up the dead!" Rufus snapped impatiently at him, getting stunned by the shouting.

"Sorry," Zack apologized before he stepped inside the prison cell where Yuffie is. "ARGH! What happened to you?!" he wailed.

"Why? What's wrong?" Aerith asked as she went over to him with Tifa following right behind her.

Zack lifted the unconscious Yuffie in his arms. "Yuffie?" he whispered as he touched her face.

She felt cold.

"OH NO!!! IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" he wailed.

"What?" Elena asked casually.

"She's cold already!!! She's dead!!!!!" Zack wailed.

The other Turks were surprised, so were the others, but Elena just laughed. "Yeah, well she fell and hit her head." And shuddered. "This place is really freezing cold. I'm out of here!" she muttered before rushing out and winked at the others.

Silence.

Rufus got the message and whispered it to Tifa and the others except for Zack. Yuffie really fainted, but she's okay… she's not dead; it's just that the place is too cold because of the centralized air-conditioning system that is working _too_ well.

Zack began to cry. "Yuffie, I…" he embraced her. "First it's Aerith, then you? It's so unfair! Why is life so unfair… IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" he was wailing.

Rufus just rolled his eyes and took Tifa's hand, taking her with him. "Let's go upstairs. This place is too much for me to bear." He told her.

Barret just shook his head in disbelief as he watched Zack lament over Yuffie's "dead" body.

"Is he stupid or what? Can't he feel for her pulse or something?!" Reno whispered to Rude.

"I think I just saw her hand move…" Rude whispered back.

"Well… she's dead. Why are you making such a big deal about it?" Scarlet asked rather insensitively with a haughty look on her face as she picked her fingernails.

"Because… she's… she's special to me. I didn't waste two years of my life with her just so that I could lose her like this!" Zack pointed out with a miserable look on his face.

"How _special_ is special?" Reno asked with a silly smile on his face.

"I swore to protect her always… and then… to always be by her side… and now… she's… gone. All because I wasn't there for her! And GAWDS!!! We had a fight! What if her soul cannot rest and haunts me forever!!!??? It's so unfair!!!" Zack wailed.

Aerith just shrugged. "Well… maybe… in the Promised Land, you'll meet her there! Hee…" she suggested with a weak smile on her face.

"Ugh… Very funny, Aerith…" he said sarcastically.

Reno snickered. "Well I think she's not yet dead." He said.

Barret stifled his own laughter, "Yeah, what if she's just sleeping?" he asked.

Zack looked at them and they all shifted their facial expressions from "smiling" to "serious". "R…really?" he asked, seemingly gullible because of too much confusion.

"Oh yes. It happens. One time it happened to Scarlet and Reeve had to kiss her so that she'd wake up. Heheh." Reno reasoned. Scarlet stomped on his foot with her right heel, making him yelp in severe pain. "Kyah!!!" she shrieked at him before walking away. Reeve just scratched his head.

"Just like in Sleeping Beauty, man," Barret urged.

Silence.

Zack turned to Yuffie again and gazed at her peaceful face. He smiled bitterly at her. "There's no use, guys… she's dead…" he sniffed. "And I didn't even get the chance to tell her how beautiful she really is… and that I… I…" shook.

"You what?" Aerith asked casually.

"…that I love her…" Zack mentioned.

Silence.

A shadow loomed over Aerith, Barret, Tseng, Reno, Rude and Reeve… and they all turned around to see who it was… Their eyes widened upon seeing Lord Godo standing there and glaring dagger looks at Zack.

And Zack didn't even notice it! He just went on: "Even in death, she's so beautiful… I could just kiss her…"

And he did.

Lord Godo's patience snapped. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?!?!? You #$$%#$%" he began to cuss in Wutaian Language that only Tseng was able to understand.

Zack gasped and dropped Yuffie by accident because of surprise. "Wha?! SIR!!!" he wailed in shock.

Yuffie had awoken when she landed on the floor. "OW!!!" she cried out in pain.

Silence.

Lord Godo just sneered at Zack, "You. Are. So. Dead."

Zack hid behind Yuffie as she got up. "Oh Yuffie, save me…" he whimpered.

"Huh? Wh…why? What happened?" she asked in confusion. "Why are you mad, daddy?" she asked.

"YOU ARE FIRED!!!!!" Lord Godo screamed at Zack, his face red in fury and smoke seemed to steam out from his nose and ears.


	13. Trying to Reach Wutai

They Live!!!

By GQ and Zhak

Chapter Thirteen: Trying to Reach Wutai

Lord Godo had requested a chopper from Rufus so that the trip going back to Wutai would be faster. Rufus easily obliged because he wanted Zack out of his territory because he thought he had caused enough trouble already by making Lord Godo very unpleasant and angry (and he uttered Wutaian cusses at Rufus and called him "Brat" in Wutaian when he thought Rufus wouldn't allow him to use the chopper; and he didn't know that Rufus knew how to speak that language).

"Well, Lord Kisaragi, thank you for taking time to visit Midgar, and… I'm sorry for the trouble that Old Man caused you," Rufus said, gritting his teeth discreetly and trying to suppress his annoyance.

"Thank you, Rufus," Lord Godo said in feigned respect. "Now, Yuffie, get on the chopper…"

Yuffie nodded and silently hopped on the chopper. She seemed quite detached from the world at that moment, being depressed and all and having no idea of the events that happened while she was unconscious.

The pilot started the chopper. The chopping noises started. Lord Godo had to yell at Rufus. "Well, then." He climbed up on the chopper himself.

As the chopper started to rise, Rufus waved at it. Hospitality, after all. "Good riddance," he muttered with a plastic smile on his face. He turned to Cloud and the others, who were watching behind him and from a proper distance. "Well, that's over with."

"Uhm," Tifa piped up, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but… I didn't see Zack get on the chopper…" she pointed out.

Silence.

"Does Yuffie know?" Elena asked.

"Actually, Lord Godo told Yuffie that he fired Zack because Yuffie is old enough to take care of herself." Cloud explained.

"What? Well then where is that Hedgehog?" Rufus demanded.

"He… left early today. He says he'll go back to Gongaga." Vincent pointed out.

Everyone fell silent as they just watched the chopper fly further away from the building.

--_break--_

Yuffie was looking out the window with a miserable look on her face.

"What's the matter with you, daughter?" Lord Godo asked curiously.

She just pouted, "I left my materia there…" she lied.

He frowned at her as he narrowed his eyes at her, "Oh?" he asked, doubting her credibility. He shook his head in dismay. "Let go of him, Yuffie. He's not meant for you." He said.

She lowered her gaze to the floor. "I don't know what you're talking about…" she muttered as she crossed her arms. Lord Godo just let her be.

Yuffie's gaze softened as she looked outside the window and stared at the clouds. "He didn't even say goodbye…" she said softly.

Lord Godo turned back to her. "What?" he demanded.

She frowned. "I said I forgot to say goodbye to Rufus and the others, _dad_." She snapped impatiently before tossing her hair off her shoulder. "Hmf!" and she froze. She realized that she still had long hair.

And suddenly, she wanted to cry, but she did not.

--_break--_

"So unfair… so unfair… so unfair…" Zack was muttering repeatedly to himself as he finally reached Gongaga. He was lucky that Vincent was kind enough to _donate_ some cash to him so that he could take a one-way flight back to his hometown through a community chopper being offered by the Mayor of Midgar (although unknown to Rufus and to the rest of ShinRa).

When he got down from the chopper, he went straight to the place where his little house is located. He stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air. "Hmm… smells like Mako." He thought. And he laughed. "I'm imagining things…" he muttered before proceeding. He peeked inside through the window but didn't see anyone. "Wonder where mom and dad are…" he thought before finally opening the door. "I'm home!!!" he called out.

But the place was too quiet… and everything seemed so still.

The furniture looked dusty and old, like they haven't been used for quite some time already. "Mom?" he called out.

Nobody answered. He accidentally banged the door when he pushed to close it, and when it did close, the dust from the ceiling unsettled, scattering around the whole area. "So unfair!" he wailed as he coughed sneezed. He instantly rushed outside the house to breathe in some fresh air.

An old man dragging a wagon with him passed by and stared strangely at him. "You lost, boy?" he asked.

Zack stopped coughing and turned to the old man. "Oh… no. I live here, sir." He explained with a weak smile on his face.

The old man turned to the small house, "_That_ house?" he asked. Zack nodded.

"Well… the old folks who once lived there moved out. Are you related to them?" the Old Man asked.

"They did?" Zack asked in awe.

"Yes, they moved to Wutai. Are you related to them?" the Old Man asked.

Zack fell silent before turning back to the house with a stunned look on his face, "Y… yes. I'm their son…" he said softly.

"Oh, so you're the boy they're talking about! Where have you been all these years? They've been waiting for your return!" the Old Man told him with an amused smile on his face.

"Really?" Zack asked in awe as he turned back to the Old Man. "When did they move out?" he asked.

"A year ago. They migrated to Wutai because of the news that President ShinRa decided to rebuild the Mako Reactor in this place." The Old Man pointed out.

"But… President ShinRa is… dead," Zack thought silently, deciding to just wait until other word would reach this Old Man about the President's death and Rufus taking over once more. He just smiled uneasily at the Old Man and said, "Well, I think the President will be discontinuing the reconstruction of all Mako Reactors," and then decided to just walk back inside the house. He stopped in his tracks when he remembered where his parents had migrated. "Wutai…" He turned back to the Old Man with a curious look on his face, but the Old Man had begun walking away with his wagon. Zack just sighed heavily before deciding to go inside once more and shut the door. He brought out his wallet and checked his cash. He has enough to go to Wutai.

But he's hungry!

"But if I buy some food, my money won't be enough… I have to get to Wutai…" he muttered miserably to himself. He thought of sitting someplace else and just beg… but he shook his head in disgust. "Ugh! No way! Grossness!" he uttered.

He fell silent, realizing what he had just said: "Grossness." He sulked.

He cringed. "Hanging too much around Yuffie really did some wonders in my vocabulary…" he thought before proceeding to look for some loose change around the household…

But only found lint.

"IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" he yelled in annoyance.

The walls shook.

He covered his mouth. "Uh-oh…" he thought.

The house collapsed.

--_break--_

_A Week Later… in Midgar…_

Sephiroth was the first one to laugh out loud when he passed by the charity ward in the Sector 7 Community Hospital, making Aerith wonder. Since Cloud isn't around to accompany her to the hospital for her monthly check-ups with a pediatrician because Cloud landed a job in ShinRa courtesy of Rufus, Sephiroth was the one who went with her.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Sephiroth entered the Charity Ward and approached one of the patients. "So it's true, you're here," he said.

Aerith was stunned upon seeing Zack wrapped up in bandages. "Oh my… what happened to you?" she asked in shock.

"Merrpouwh prgh… mrrrrgh…" Zack replied. His mouth is also covered with bandages, muffling every word he would utter.

"Speak in English, Hedgehog!" Sephiroth said with a mocking tone before laughing again. Aerith turned to the nurse. "What happened to him, miss?" she asked.

"Well… there's no hospital in Gongaga, so they had to take him all the way from there to here. A house collapsed and he's inside. Poor fellow," the nurse replied.

"Mrr… prgh… mrrrgh… prhggrh…" Zack began, but it was no use. The nurse adjusted his bandages and soon, he was relieved to be able to speak without anything muffling his voice, "Oh thank you…" he told the nurse before turning to Sephiroth and Aerith. "I'm so glad to see the two of you again!" he said.

"Yeah, yeah, we are too, now let's go, Aerith. Cloud's waiting for you in ShinRa…" Sephiroth said sarcastically to him before he grabbed Aerith's hand and walked out of the room with her.

"But… what about--?" Aerith struggled to say.

Zack felt bad about himself. "Oh man! It's so unfair!!!" he wailed.

He couldn't even move. The doctor said that he'd be in casts and bandages for at least 2 weeks before he could move freely again. "So unfair…" he thought miserably. So he just waited… and waited…

After around five hours, he was surprised when he had visitors.

Aerith, Tifa, Elena and Lucrecia. He sulked upon seeing Aerith (knowing that Cloud might hate him forever because she's concerned about his health). "Oh man… please get out of here…" he moaned in despair. Aerith frowned at him. "Is this how you treat us?" she demanded as she annoyingly placed the bouquet of flowers on the table beside his bed.

"Yeah. Be thankful we're _concerned_ enough to visit someone like you!" Elena sneered at him.

Zack shrunk. "A…alright… uhm… thank you…" he said rather sheepishly before looking away.

"So, were you able to see your parents again?" Aerith asked.

Zack was surprised at her. "How did you know?" he asked.

"You used to tell me when we were younger how much you wanted to see your parents again, right?" she asked. He looked at her sadly, "Oh right… yeah… now I remember…" and he just looked away again. "No. They moved to another country." He explained.

"Oh really, where?" Lucrecia asked before snatching the clipboard off the foot of the bed where all of Zack's medical reports are attached. She began to read the 10 sheets of paper attached to it, then also began to look at the X-rays. She chuckled lightly, "Actually you're still tested positive for Mako… so that makes your healing process quicker. How long have you been here in the hospital already?" she asked.

"A week already… this is my second week." He replied miserably. Lucrecia put down the X-rays and the clipboard and began to unwind the bandages. "Who the hell are your doctors? You're fine!" she snapped. Zack panicked. "Wha?! Hey… I… what if my doctor gets mad?!" he wailed.

"No he won't. I don't think he even gives a damn about you here. So, where did your parents migrate to?" Lucrecia continued with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Wu…Wutai…" he stammered nervously as Lucrecia proceeded to remove the bandages and his casts.

Tifa giggled. "Lucrecia, here, has been appointed as the new chief scientist of ShinRa." She explained to Zack.

"Oh… that's nice to hear…" he said weakly.

"Wutai, huh? Isn't that the place where Yuffie lives?" Aerith asked.

"Y…yeah." He replied.

"You can visit her," Tifa pointed out. He shook his head. "I don't think so… Lord Kisaragi is mad at me… I don't think he likes me for Yuffie because…" he trailed off when he realized what he had just said. "ARGH! Never mind! I just partly revealed that I have feelings for that ninja…" he said in shame, his face turning red.

"Oh so you do admit that you have feelings for her, huh?" Aerith asked playfully with a sweet smile on her face.

"Isn't that great! You can tell her that!" Elena said happily.

"Fat chance! Even if I do, does she even like me?!" Zack demanded. He sighed in misery, "Besides, I can't even go to Wutai even if I want to because my money isn't enough." He muttered.

The women looked at each other. "W-ell… we have more than enough money," Tifa said, winking.

"More than enough," said Elena, giggling uncontrollably.

Zack narrowed his eyes at them. "Oh yeah, as if you guys will lend _me _of all people money. Even if you do, your guys will hunt me down and slaughter me and the next thing you know, the shish kebab you'll be having at a ShinRa conference will actually be my body parts…"

"EEEW!" Aerith, Tifa and Elena squealed in disgust. "Even if they do kill you, they'd be too disgusted at you to serve you as kebab, Zack!"

"Gee, thanks. Now I feel even more loved," he replied sarcastically.

"Aw, Zack, you exaggerate. Cloud isn't that nasty… maybe Rufus is, but not Sephiroth… if he is, I'd have spanked him already. Ohoho…" Lucrecia said as she began dialing a few numbers on her PHS. The ringing began. She frowned, dialed another number and waited again.

"Lucrecia, who's that?" asked Tifa innocently. Lucrecia put a finger to her lips as the other line was answered. "Hello?... yes, Vinny, this is Lucrecia… Oh, you don't say… I love you too! Heehee!" The girls forced a grin and Zack produced this strange, long-suffering look. "Anyway, Vinny, I tried to call President Rufus' PHS, but it was diverted to his secretary's number and I needed to talk to him personally… Hmm? Oh, alright, I guess Cloud's fine. Please hand him the phone."

"Does Vincent have a job in ShinRa too?" Zack asked.

Elena raised her hand as if she were asking to be called in class. "He's a Turk. My superior. Heehee!"

"Oh. Okay," Zack said, turning back to Lucrecia, who looked like she was trying to calm down the other person in the line… in vain.

"Sigh… Cloud, calm down. Here, I'll let Aerith explain it for you," the scientist said, handing the phone to Aerith as if it were a hot potato. "You and Cloud have a lot of issues," she added, facing Zack. He sighed.

"Hello… Cloud? Hi!... no, Cloud, he didn't do anything to me…. Aaw!!... I love you too!" she said to the phone, giggling.

Zack had his long-suffering face again. Tifa shrugged. "She always does that when she talks to Cloud," she explained.

"Anyway, Cloud… you have to do this for Zack, now. He has a good reason… anyway… It's time you two reconciled, right?... Oh, Cloud! You'd do it for me? Thanks! Love you! Bye" She disconnected. "Okay, Zack, Cloud will lend you the cash you need!"

Zack's jaw dropped. "What? Cloud agreed?" he asked.

"Cloud's a sweet guy. Of course he agreed!" Aerith said cheerfully as she handed the phone back to Lucrecia.

He looked down, dumbfounded. "Wow… of all people…" he mumbled.

"YAY! You get to see Yuffie again! AAAH! I can't wait! It's gonna be soooooo sweet!" Elena broke in, starry eyed and squealing. Tifa giggled along with her. Aerith smiled and Lucrecia shook her head.

_I'll see Mom and Dad again… and maybe Yuffie too…_for once, Zack didn't mind the squealing. He smiled secretly to himself.

"Wutai… I'm coming…!" he announced proudly and dramatically, standing up from the bed. Of course, a week in bandages made his limbs feeling a bit like jelly. He fell over, hitting his head painfully at the edge of the bed before landing on the floor.

_CLUNK! THUD. _

"AH! So unfair!..." he wailed.


	14. Yuffie Snaps

**They Live!!!!!**

By: GQ and Zhak

**_Chapter Fourteen: Yuffie Snaps

* * *

_**

_Wutai…_

Yuffie jumped from stone to stone; she felt that her feet barely touched those stones as she continued her way up a mountain. When she finally reached the top, she just stood still, panting hard but she was relieved to have reached it in less than five minutes. She was becoming more agile compared to before. It turned out that training with Zack really did wonders for her… and she even improved in her rope lessons. She smiled to herself, "I'm sure dad will be so proud of me…" she thought before gazing down at the area below the mountain from where she was standing at the edge. A strong breeze began to blow from behind her, giving her a slight push that almost made her fall off, but she maintained her balance. She brushed off her own hair that blew against her face when the wind blew against her. "GAWDS!!! I could've killed myself!" she wailed in annoyance before looking down again, then up at the orangey skies. It was already sunset. She gazed into the horizon before her and wondered silently what her friends are doing at that moment.

"I miss them," she sighed out loud, blowing a few strands of her bangs away from her face. "Life's boring without them."

She decided at that moment that she was tired of training. She wearily started walking back home to the Pagoda and maybe see her father again drinking tea. But then, an idea struck her.

Lord Godo had repeatedly been telling her to mingle with the townspeople more often, especially after they arrived from Midgar. "After all, you'll be their ruler someday. You should try to get to know them," he had been telling her a dozen times. "And don't worry, they aren't as violent or rude as those people in Midgar. Wutaians are humbler people."

"Well… it's better than moping around the house," she said to herself as she started hopping down the ledges of the mountain. As soon as she reached the bottom, she jogged towards the nearest tea-house. There would be people there… and pretty much everybody knew her name already. "I guess it's time to go mingle," she thought.

She entered the tea-house. The aroma of freshly brewed tea floated to her nostrils. The locals looked up at her; some gaped and some minded their own businesses again. She smiled uneasily. "Eh… hi…" she uttered meekly as she made her way towards the stools in front of the counter (the place is sort of modeled after a modern bar… it somewhat reminded her of the 7th Heaven). There was an elderly couple sitting there, chatting with each other. They looked up at Yuffie.

"Ah! What a beautiful young lady!" the lady said, looking at her up and down. Yuffie smiled uneasily at her.

_Okay… mingle. Be social. _"Hi! I'm Yuffie Kisaragi! Daughter of Lord Godo…" she said, forcing her friendliest smile.

The gentleman touched his chin in thought. "That Lord Godo fellow… he's the leader of this place, right?" he asked.

"W-ell… yeah…"

"So that makes you almost a Princess!" the lady gasped. Yuffie raised an eyebrow, but still tried not to look rude. The couple noticed her discomfort. "Oh—forgive us, child. We moved from our old place, you see, since President ShinRa wanted to place another Mako Reactor near our hometown after the other exploded! So, we aren't so familiar with your country yet…" she said apologetically.

Yuffie shook her head. "Oh, no, ma'am, it's all right. I know what it's like to be a foreigner… kinda," she said, thinking of the first time she stepped foot in Midgar—everybody looked at her as a typical Wutaian tourist or something. "So, where were you guys originally from?"

"Gongaga…" the gentleman replied, sighing. "I know, child, that old country of ours is poor, poverty-stricken… but it was a cozy place…" He sighed again. "We would have stayed longer, if President ShinRa didn't plan to build another Reactor."

Before Yuffie could explain to them that President ShinRa was dead and that they didn't need to worry anymore, the lady spoke again. "Ah, yes. I wanted to stay longer… so that Zack would have moved with us here. I wish he came back then…"

Yuffie froze. "Z… Zack?" she asked in a small voice.

The couple nodded. "Our son."

The wife smiled. "Poor Zack… he would have liked Wutai. It's so peaceful here… but if we stayed in Gongaga any longer, we might have died."

Yuffie felt a bit dizzy at that moment. "Uh… uhm… why wasn't your son with you? Could you tell me more about, uhm… Zack?" she asked.

The gentleman sipped his tea and closed his eyes. "Zack is a nice boy… he left home when he was 16 since, you know, we were a poor family and all…"

His wife got a hanky to wipe a few tears off her eyes. "He wanted to go to Midgar and get a job as a SOLDIER. He planned to serve ShinRa and send us part of his salary to help…"

"The thing is, though, sometime later, he didn't send us anything, or contact us… we thought maybe he had a busy life in the Big City, after all."

"We kept sending him letters, though. And brownies, too, since the boy loved his brownies. We told him to come back anytime to Gongaga to see his folks again when he had the time…"

"And just recently, he _did _write us again… but he said he had a different job this time. He didn't tell where, but it was bodyguard duty, he tells us."

"He wrote letters to us every week, telling us about his duties as a bodyguard to this pretty young lady whom he had described of kind of annoying but cute. Heh heh,"

"And in the latest, oh we were so happy when Zack wrote to us that he could be falling in love with the girl," the man said, laughing. "But he said that we shouldn't expect grandchildren so soon."

Yuffie blushed, but kept listening: "But we really want to see him again. He didn't tell us where he is working as a bodyguard, though, because he says it's very confidential."

Yuffie thought for a while, feeling her heart beating faster by the minute, "Did he… mention her name?" she asked.

"No, 'fraid not." The man told her with a dismayed look on his face.

"But he did describe her, right?" the woman asked in curiosity. The man nodded and smiled back at Yuffie. "Well yes… and come to think of it, the way we pictured her when he described her to us; it's like he's talking about you!" he said.

"OH MY GAWD!!!!!" Yuffie shrieked, surprising everyone, including the couple; and she just rushed out of the teahouse as fast as she could in tears.

* * *

__

Lord Godo was in his pagoda, drinking his late afternoon tea, when he heard loud stomping footsteps approaching him. He didn't need to ask who it was even if his eyes were closed (he's concentrating); he already knew who it was: "Yuffie, dear, please stop that. You might destroy the pagoda," he said sternly.

Yuffie stopped when she had finally approached him. She was panting hard and tears were streaming down her face, although she had a very angry look. Her hair was really messed up and she was sweaty too. "Daddy…" she snarled, scaring the servants, making them step backwards away from her and her father.

"Yes darling?" her father asked coolly as he opened his eyes calmly… and then he jerked up in surprise and accidentally let go of his teacup when he saw the enraged look on his daughter's face. "Wh…what the--?! A monster?!" he cried out in shock.

She shrieked at his face, "GAWDS!!!!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!?!?" she fell on her knees and took her father's hands in hers. "How could you do this to Zack?! He was only trying to work for a living so that he could support his poor parents… OH THE HUMANITY!!!!! And now poor Zacky is suffering because he can't send money to his folks and… and… WHAT IF THEY DIE IN POVERTY!!!??? You are such a bad ruler, daddy! You don't care about the oppressed!!! HOW COULD YOU???!!!!!" she was shouting frantically.

Silence.

"Wh…what?" Lord Godo asked in confusion.

"AAARGH!!! GAWDS! You won't even listen to me??!!!" she shrieked in her spoiled-brat way and got up, stomping her way towards the main house itself and headed for the place where she could use the telephone.

* * *

__

_Midgar_…

"And then for the next quarter, I expect the sales to be…" Rufus ShinRa trailed off when his mobile phone began to ring. Everybody fell silent. He got it from his pocket, "Pardon me…" he told his new executives [composed of Scarlet (still on the Weapons Department), Reeve (Urban Development), Sephiroth (Peace Keepings---since Rufus imprisoned Heidegger for his loyalty to Old Man), and Lucrecia (the new head of the merged Science and Space Development Division)] and the Turks (composed of Vincent, Tseng, Rude, Reno and Elena) before staring at the caller I.D. An unknown number. He answered the call with a frown on his face, "Yes?"

He had to withdraw the mobile phone from his ear when somebody just shrieked shrilly from the other line. The others also heard it. Rufus realized that it'd be rather dangerous for his eardrums if he puts the phone close to his ear again, so he just set it on loudspeaker mode so that the others could hear it as well. "Is this some kind of a joke?!" he demanded angrily.

"YOU!!! You and all the other megalomaniacs I know!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!!" a familiar voice shrieked from the speaker, making the phone vibrate violently.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "Yuffie? Whatever are you talking about?"

"And you even have the nerve to act IGNORANT! You're the reason why there are oppressed people! GAWDS!" A loud click followed. Yuffie just hung up the phone.

Rufus, dumbfounded, looked at his employees, hoping for an explanation.

Reno was the only one who responded. "PMS?" he shrugged.

Sephiroth just laughed.

Rufus decided to redial the number to talk to Yuffie again.

* * *

__

Yuffie was wiping her tears away when she heard the phone ringing again. "I have to find Zack…" she was thinking silently before going to the phone and mindlessly picked up the receiver and answered it. She greeted in Wutaian.

And the person on the other line replied in Wutaian, asking her what was the commotion all about.

Her eyes widened. "ARGH!!! It's you again, you Megalomaniac!" she shrieked.

"Oh finally you can speak in English again," Rufus told her with an arrogant tone. "And stop calling me a Megalomaniac. You must have me confused with Old Man."

Yuffie frowned. "Like father, like son they always say," she told him snottily.

"Oh… how dare you… and you're just like your father: stubborn and…" he stopped when he heard her sniff.

_

* * *

_

Elena was surprised. She got up from her seat and rushed to Rufus and she asked Yuffie, "Are you crying?", since it's still in loudspeaker mode.

Sephiroth stopped laughing, knowing that the situation suddenly sounded serious.

* * *

__

Giving up, Yuffie just wiped her tears away, "Is Zack there?" she asked weakly.

The other line paused.

She thought that they had hung up on her because it was too quiet. Thinking the line's dead already, she just proceeded, "Go ahead… hang up… but I'll still look for him… I know he's still there and… I want him back here… because…"

"MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Silence.

_

* * *

_

Scarlet, Reeve and Tseng had to jump onto Sephiroth to restrain him from laughing, covering his mouth. "Mrwh…" Sephiroth struggled to laugh.

"You ruined the moment!" Lucrecia pointed out to her son.

"OH MY GAWD!!!!! YA'LL HEARD WHAT I SAID?!?!?" they heard Yuffie shriek from the other line.

"Duh." Reno pointed out.

Silence.

BOOG.

The sound of a person dropping down on wooden floor.

Then there was the dial tone.

"I think she fainted…" Elena stated flatly.

"Whatever." Rufus said before ending the call completely and just proceeded, "Anyway, back to business…"

* * *

__

"Yuffie! Yuffie!!!" Lord Godo was shaking his daughter hard in panic.

Yuffie slowly opened her eyes and looked up at her father. She shrieked and pushed him away from herself, "GAWDS!!! Don't you dare touch me!" she instantly got up and ran off from her father, proceeding to her own room.

Lord Godo plus some other servants followed after her, but they could not keep up with her ninja speed. By the time they reached about 10 feet from the door, she already shut the door. Violently.

The servants looked at their master questioningly. Lord Godo just sighed wearily. "Never mind. She's just in one of her moods. Tomorrow, she'll be in her usual, chipper self…"


	15. Reunited?

They Live!!!

By: GQ and Zhak. (cha-ching)  
Disclaimer: We don't own the song "Ni Yao De Ai"... it's by Penny Dai... and Comet Garden is just a spoof of the Taiwanese soap _Meteor Garden_ and we're not fans of that horrible show... and Zachary and Yumi are just creatures popping out from out Zhak's mind and dancing "La Cucaracha". Mwahahaha XD ... and Kairi belongs to Kingdom Hearts. And of course, we don't own Final Fantasy 7 or anything related to it. Just the story plot of this fic. Feh. Suing us will just cause you to lose billions of moolah and you will die in seven days nod nod )

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen:** **Reunited?**

But Yuffie wasn't chipper at all the next morning.  
She barely ate her breakfast of fish, soup and tea. She spent most of the time frowning. She doesn't even want to speak to her father, the servants, random guests, or anyone at all. Not one word, not one text message. She just sulked in front of the TV, not bothering to train anymore.  
By lunchtime, her father once again tried to talk to her. She was watching this Wutaian soap opera, _Comet Garden_. The foreign Zachary, who was the boyfriend of Yumi, was just turned down by her father and was left in Midgar while Yumi and her dad went home to Wutai.  
_"Yumi… I'm so sorry… I'm not good enough!"  
"Oh, Zachary! I will always love you. I'll wait for you in Wutai…"  
_Yuffie started crying.  
Lord Godo frowned at the scene unfolding in the TV screen. It all sounded so familiar… "Yuffie… may I have a word with you?"  
Yuffie turned up the volume. _"I'll come back for you, Yumi! I promise!"  
_"Yuffie?" Lord Godo repeated, making his voice firmer.  
_"I know you will…"  
"I love you."  
"I love you too."  
_Lord Godo turned away. Zachary and Yumi just kissed. Yuffie bawled, "IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!"  
Zachary painfully waved good-bye as he watched Yumi's ship leave the horizon... _"Please don't try so hard to say good-bye..." _were the last words uttered before the ending theme and credits played.  
"That's it! Stop watching this before it pollutes your brain!" Lord Godo demanded, reaching out for the remote and clicking off the TV. Yuffie was too busy reaching for a Kleenex to stop him. "But I love this show..." she reasoned weakly. "Oh don't give me that reason, young lady! You hated those sappy shows!" he snapped.  
"Well... not anymore..." Yuffie said, sniffing. "It's a whole lot better than listening to you, for one." She turned away, grabbing a magazine on the coffee table in front of her. The cover featured--who else--the actors of _Comet Garden_. Zachary and Yumi, more specifically. They're sweethearts in real life, and guess what--those are their real names too! She sniffed. "Oh they're so sweet..." she said bitterly. Lord Godo snatched the magazine away from her grasp. "Enough of this, Yuffie. You're not yourself! What's wrong with you? Why don't you tell me?!"  
"There's nothing wrong with me." Yuffie said firmly, snatching back the magazine.  
"There are a number of things wrong with you. You were the first one to say that _Comet Garden _was too far-fetched to be real. And that the director 'sucks', as you put it. The fact that you're crying about this show tells me that you're hiding something. Spill it," her father said sternly.  
She just shut up, pressing her lips together and crossing her arms across her chest. "Hmf..." she turned her head away from him.  
Lord Godo was trying to keep his patience... and then he had an idea. He sat down beside his daughter with a calm look on his face. "Alright. You don't want to talk? Fine." he said sternly. Yuffie just kept still. He proceeded, "I'm planning to close a deal with President Rufus tomorrow. He just sent me a telegram about it."  
Yuffie was still silent, pretending not to care. Lord Godo proceeded with a thrilled tone, "And I would also like to ask him if he could marry you! That way, Wutai and Midgar can be united!!! Isn't that wonderful?"  
Yuffie's eyes widened as she gazed unbelievably at her father, "YOU'RE CRAZY!!!" she shrieked. "Oh finally, you spoke up again..." he muttered before lightening up and smiled, "Well yes, like you." he told her rather sarcastically. She jumped off the couch. "GAWDS!!!!! The guy's engaged!!! You think you can fool me?!" she demanded. "Well, it was a fake engagement to fool his father. It means Tifa is free and Rufus is yours!" he reasoned.  
She just pouted. "You're not going to do that. You're just... you're just..." she sniffed again. "...You're just saying that to make me... to make me..." she trembled as tears fell from her eyes. Lord Godo felt guilty so he got up and went to his daughter, "Aww... I'm sorry, daddy didn't mean those nasty things... he was just teasing you so that you will talk. You know how much your silent treatment worries daddy because daddy wuvs you vewy vewy much!" he told her as he embraced her, talking as if she's still a little girl. Her sobs turned into screams, stunning his ears, then she ran off. Lord Godo noticed that she was holding something... His Materia! He gasped. "YUFFIE!!! Where are you going?!" he demanded as he went after her.  
Yuffie just kept on running until she reached outside the gates of the Kisaragi residence. She turned her head from left to right, as if thinking which way to go. "Oh hell..." she muttered before deciding to go straight ahead and jumped onto the roof of the house facing the Kisaragi residence and then proceeded with her escape. "I have to find his parents. I hope this Materia can support them in their expenses." she was thinking.

* * *

Zack hugged his parents upon seeing them again, "Oh mommy! Daddeeee!!!!" he was saying with tear-stained eyes.  
"Zack!" His mother hugged him and kissed him at the cheeks repeatedly. "Look how you've grown! Such a big boy, our Zacky-wacky is!!!" she said, pinching his cheeks.  
"Zack! Ha-ha..." His father ruffled his hair. "How's my boy been? Eh?"  
"J-just fine, Dad!" Zack said, rubbing his now-sore cheeks. "Hey, your house here in Wutai is a lot nicer than the one back in Gongaga..." He looked around the house. It was more colorful and the furniture were arranged quite strangely. Oh, and it was full of cats too. "But... you rented the cat house..."  
"Oh you know... Wutaians and their Feng Shui... we wanted to fit in. We bought ourselves a few good dictionaries to help us learn their language better, as well," his father replied, slapping his back. "As for the cats, this house was the cheapest one to rent in this area... they're very nice kitties, and the people around here tell us that they're good luck. And they're right! My boy came home!" Her mother pinched his cheeks again. Zack winced. "How much is the rent for this place and who owns this?" he asked.  
"Some Wutaian named Tseng. He resides in Midgar and works for ShinRa... but he's quite a nice fellow despite the fact that he's from ShinRa. We're paying him 20,000 Gil every two months." his dad explained.  
"20,000? But..." Zack began, but didn't bother anymore. His daddy slapped his back again. "Oh, don't worry your furry little head about it, boy. We got enough money for the two of us... So, how's the bodyguardin' job of yours?" he asked. Zack just smiled weakly at them.  
His mother's face lit up further, "Oh Zack! Your father and I are so excited to know that you're happy with your job! So tell me, do you already have a girlfriend?" she asked excitedly as she invited him to sit down on the couch with her. Zack just followed his parents with his gaze and a weak smile on his face as he watched them sit down. "Uhm..." he hesitated. He felt like crying all of a sudden, but he still pulled himself together.  
"What's her name?" his father asked.  
"Her name? Uhm... her name is..." he began, but was interrupted when the door just burst open and they all turned to the door in surprise. "?!"  
Yuffie was standing there, panting hard but still flashing her best smile at everyone. "Heehee! Hey everyone! Got some moolah for ya'll from the rich! Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk!" she told them... and she was stunned.  
Zack felt the whole room spinning around him. "Yuffie?!" he said in awe.  
Yuffie gaped at him in awe. "Zack?!" she exclaimed.  
Zack's parents got up and stared at them in confusion. "You know each other?" his mother asked.  
"Y...yes... I... know her. She's... the one I'm telling you about..." Zack replied rather weakly.  
Then out of nowhere, there was another voice yelling, "I KNEW IT!!!!!!"  
Silence.  
Behind Yuffie was her father, holding a Samurai sword and panting hard like a deranged ninja... and yes, he's also wearing a ninja suit. Yuffie jumped up in surprise and ran behind Zack, hiding there. "OH MY GAWD!!!!! You're crazier than Sephiroth!!!" she shrieked.  
The cats hissed at Lord Godo.  
Lord Godo was surprised at the cat and then he just started to sneeze.  
Silence.  
He continued to sneeze and he began to feel itchy too. "Oh no..." he moaned in annoyance.  
"Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk! You're allergic to kitties!!!" Yuffie teased while jumping around in joy before handing the Materia secretly to Zack, taking his right hand into hers and putting it against his palm. "Here you go. Sell this for Gil. It amounts to around almost a million. I got it from Rufus and then gave it to daddy... and got it for myself again! Heehee! It's the _hair materia_." she told him.  
Zack stared at her in awe. His parents were busy trying to help Lord Godo stop sneezing by the doorway. "Hair materia?! What does it do?!" he asked her.  
"It makes your hair look nicer! But anyway, I don't think you need it for your own hair." Yuffie said.  
"But what if Rufus looks for it?" he asked.  
"Oh I suppose he can get more of these somewhere." she stated flatly while keeping her gaze into his eyes. He just kept quiet and bowed down with an apologetic look on his face as he shook his head and handed the Materia back to her. "I can't take this." he told her.  
"What?! But why?!" she demanded in annoyance.  
"I just can't! I'm not supposed to!" he told her. She opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out. He smiled bitterly at her, "I'm sorry," he told her solemnly.  
Yuffie's face fell. She stared blankly at him, then dropped her gaze to the floor. "Oh. I see." was all she said before glumly walking out of the cat house, swishing the materia towards her dad, who would have caught it if he wasn't sneezing violently. "I give up." She ran back towards the Pagoda, blinking back tears.

* * *

_"Waaaaait!" Zack ran after Yuffie, arms outstretched and everything.  
Yuffie's crying form turned towards him, the sunset giving a very nice effect. "Zaaaack!!!"  
They ran towards each other. Random Wutaians minding their own businesses looked at them, shocked at this display.  
Zack caught Yuffie in his arms. A very nice song, that goes something like "Wo ming bai / Wo yao de ai /  
Hui ba wo chong huai..." played in the background. They hugged. The audience clapped. "Zack..." Yuffie whispered.  
"Yuffie... I...." Zack was saying. Fade out._

* * *

That would have happened, with the special effects and everything, if Zack lived in a soap opera. Of course, no such thing happened. What really happened was a lot... stranger.  
Zack tried to run after Yuffie as random thoughts went through his head. She was also thinking a lot of things that she could do to divert her attention to instead of wasting the rest of her life thinking about what she could have done so that she could be with Zack. "That's it... I'm going to haul myself inside the convent! Or maybe I'll run away and join the terrorists... or maybe just stay in the streets and become a wanderer forever... or become a mafia member... or..." she stopped her thoughts when she accidentally bumped against one of the posts of the Pagoda. "OW!" she reacted as she fell backwards. She wasn't minding where she was going because she was busily thinking about a lot of things that she could do for the rest of her life away from Zack.  
"Yuffie!!! Are you alright?" he asked as he helped her up. She was crying because of pain... on her nose. "Waaah... I think it's broken..." she said helplessly.  
"Oh, poor Yuffie... your heart is broken? I'm sorry... it's my fault... I... I promise I'll never do it again." he told her as he embraced her tightly against himself. She was stunned. "Wha...what? What are you talking about? Broken _heart_?! You gotta be kidding me..." she trailed off when he proceeded, "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you sooner that I love you and... I promise I'll never leave you again... and I'll never let you go ever again and I'll just stay here and take care of you. I know I was selfish to think that Aerith really cared for me and I blinded myself with that lie that I wasn't even able to realize that you're here and... I love you!" he said with tear-stained eyes. She just gaped unbelievably at him, feeling so shocked. She could feel all her blood rushing to her head. He looked up at the skies with a pleased look on his face, "I may not have lots of money like your family does, but I'll really work hard! And we'll live in any place you want... small house or big house, I'll give it to you!!! Whatever your heart desires! And we'll have babies! Wait! How many children do you want? One? Two? Oh... just one... and if it's a girl, we'll name her _Kairi_! Isn't that great?! I've always wanted to have a daughter!!!" he was going on and on and on...  
Yuffie went pale all of a sudden. "...babies? ...d...d...daughter? ....K...Kairi?!" she struggled to say while shaking violently... and then she passed out.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?!?!?" Lord Godo demanded angrily, interrupting the moment.  
"YIPES!!!" Zack jumped up, with Yuffie still in his arms, seeing Lord Godo still holding the Samurai sword and his face filled with hives. "ARGH!" he cried out in disgust and fear.  
"Sorry boy, we couldn't stop him!" his father told him with a worried look. Zack was already fearful for his own life... and also for Yuffie's sake.  
Lord Godo clenched his fists. "What did you tell my daughter?" he hissed. Zack stammered, "I... I... I..." Lord Godo yelled, "TELL ME THE TRUTH!!!"  
Zack jerked and started talking nervously and quickly, "The truth? Uhm... well... I told her that even if I don't have much money I'll do everything and anything for her because I love her so much and that we'll have a family together and if we have a daughter we'll name her Kairi and..."  
Lord Godo's eyes widened and his grip on the sword loosened. "Wh...what?" he asked.  
"I... said that I don't have much..." Zack stammered, attempting to repeat what he had just said, but Lord Godo said softly, "You said... Kairi?"  
Zack was stunned. "Oh... yes. Why, sir?" he asked nervously but he still smiled nervously at him.  
Lord Godo burst into tears. "THAT'S THE NAME OF MY WIFE!!!!!"  
Silence.  
"Really?" Zack asked. Lord Godo nodded vigorously while wiping tears of joy. _"But... I just made it up... oh well," _he thought in confusion as Lord Godo hugged him as if he were a son already.  
In the background, Zack's parents were smiling at him proudly, tears of joy streaming down their cheeks as well.  
Random Wutaians passing by raised a curious eyebrow at them.  
And Yuffie was still on the ground, unconscious, not aware that she and Zack were as good as engaged.


	16. And They Lived

**They Live!!!!!**  
by: General Quistis & Zhakeena  
_**Extra Author's Note from GQ**_: The official theme song for this fic is Penny Dai's "_Ni Yao De Ai_". ...and "_Slow Jamz_" by Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.... and "_Milkshake_" by Kelis... and "_The Way You Look at Me_" by Christian Bautista...why? Because these are the songs that are always playing whenever we are trying to finish this. Feh.

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: And They Lived...**

_Months later... December, to be exact..._

"Hey, hey, hey! Look what I got for President Rufus!" Reno said proudly while showing off a jock strap. Elena raised an eyebrow while looking ridiculously at the jock strap. "What is _that_ for?" she asked in confusion.  
"It's for his birthday, silly!" Reno pointed out. "You think he'll like it?" he asked while examining it with a sly look on his face.  
"Why would you even give President Rufus _that_?" Elena asked in confusion.  
"As if he'd wear that..." Tseng replied as he continued to wrap his own gift for Rufus.  
"Well, he would like that, Reno. He'd like to throw that outside in the garbage," Vincent pointed out with a calm smile on his face.  
"Har har, very funny, boss!" Reno pointed out with a sarcastic look on his face as he sat down beside Elena on the couch and grabbed some wrapping paper spread across the coffee table of the Turk Lounge. "It's his birthday party tonight! Isn't that fun?" Elena said happily.  
"And it's not a costume ball anymore, thank God." Vincent was thinking, recalling the time when he had to dress up like a woman to play Tifa's mom... and to play her father was Sephiroth. He shuddered at the thought.  
"I thought he hated parties? What convinced him?" Tseng asked.  
"Tifa did." Vincent said simply.  
"Hmm... so _your_ daughter is really hooking up with the Prez, huh?" Reno asked with a mean smile on his face. Vincent just stared blankly at him. "Very funny." was all he said simply, trying not to mind. He just got up. "Are you sure you Turks have sent out all the invitations already?" he asked, regaining his composure.  
"Affirmative, sir!" Elena, Rude and Tseng all said in unison. Vincent turned to Reno. Reno just smiled at him. "Heh heh. Yeah. I did. I was just trying to see if I could surprise you coz you're too serious." he told him. Vincent just shook his head before proceeding to the door. "Well then, I'm off to a meeting." he told them before he got out.  
"He's a better boss than you are, Tseng," Reno pointed out.  
"#$!!!" Tseng cussed in Wutaian because of annoyance.  
"Whoa, translate that in English, man!" Reno said.  
"Never mind. You'll get very offended." Tseng told him as he grabbed the scissors to cut some adhesive tape.  
"Anyway, you don't mind, do you?" Elena asked him.  
"No. In fact being a Turk boss is one of the worst things in my life! Imagine spending the whole day monitoring all of your activities and checking for errors and... stuff like that." Tseng ranted.  
Silence.  
"Of course I miss the big salary... but... at least I'm more relaxed now as a subordinate... Besides, it's simply boring just holding a clipboard the whole day and staying inside the building patrolling around aside from escorting the President and doing special missions. I'd rather do the dirty work that you guys do." he continued with a proud look on his face. "...and I shouldn't be complaining much now because I also like the salary at this point. President Rufus increased them, thank goodness." he told them.  
Reno was still bothered by the Wutaian cuss that Tseng had mentioned to him a while ago. "Aw c'mon, Tseng! What did that Wutaian cuss mean?!" he asked.  
Tseng pretended not to hear.  
"Speaking of Wutaian or anything Wutai... you think Zack's finally in Wutai?" Elena asked.  
"I don't know. Who delivered the invitation to Yuffie anyway?" Reno asked.  
Rude just raised his hand. All eyes turned to him in curiosity.  
"You bald-headed oaf! Why didn't you tell us anything?!" Tseng wailed.  
Rude just raised his eyebrows.  
"Yah! What's the scoop on Yuffie and Zack?! Are they together again?" Elena asked, shaking Rude violently. Rude just kept quiet, trying to regain his composure.  
"You're asking the wrong person." Reno told them.  
Elena just frowned. "Hmf... well there's got to be a way to make him talk..." she muttered.  
Reno smiled evilly at him. "Hey, Rude. Spill the beans or else I'll tell President Rufus that you love Miss Lockheart!"  
Silence.  
Elena and Tseng gaped unbelievably at Rude and Reno. "Wh...wha?! Rude and Miss Lockheart?!?" they both exclaimed in unison.  
Silence.  
"Traitor," Rude pointed out to Reno. Reno just smirked. "Okay, Rude... the beans or the risk of getting a salary deduction," he said with the same evil grin.  
"....." Rude stopped to think. "....." He looked up to the ceiling. "....." He scratched his head. "......" He opened his mouth in an attempt to say something, but closed it again. "........ hm." He held his chin thoughtfully.  
"Geez, Rude, I know you hate making speeches, but I think you're just stalling," Elena said, on the verge of exploding."That's it! Next time I'll see the Prez, I'll tell her about you and Miss Lock--" Reno was cut off when President Rufus entered the room.  
Rude made a sound. It wasn't a cry or a shriek or a squeak, maybe something in between... but it expressed extreme shock and surprise in the Rude way.  
"Go ahead, Reno. I can't wait to hear the rest," Rufus said. Apparently, he had been listening outside the whole time... He eyed Rude suspiciously.  
"Eh... hehe," Reno said, clearing his throat and fiddling with his collar. "Er... as I was saying..." he said with a restless look on his face.  
Rude got up in an instant, "NO! Uhm... Okay... I... I admit I once liked her... but now it's gone... I mean, the feeling is gone... and... I don't like her anymore and... oh I hate making speeches!" he began hesitantly and nervously.  
Rufus raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked.  
"I don't like her, sir." Rude said.  
But Rufus misunderstood, "WHAT?! You don't like my girlfriend?! You..." he began.  
"NOOO! Not in the sense that... I don't like her to be with you but... I don't like, like her... uhm..." Rude stammered nervously. His whole head was turning red already. Elena raised her hand to Rufus, "Oh, sir, I think he means that he's not in-love with Miss Lockheart anymore!" she pointed out.  
Rufus's mouth dropped open. "You _were_ in-love with Tifa?!" he demanded. Rude just fell silent for a while before uttering an embarrassed, "Yes." and shrank.  
Rufus just snorted while clenching his fists and teeth. "Salary deduction....." he sneered.  
Silence.  
"Anyway, have you seen Tifa?" Rufus asked.  
"Uhm... I think she's with Mrs. Strife. Uhm..." Rude began, but Rufus snarled at him, "How the bloody hell did you know?! Were you spying on her?"  
Rude just bit his lower lip in shame. "N...no but..." he began.  
"Never mind!" Rufus growled before stepping out of the room.  
"Whoa..." Reno reacted much to his total amusement.  
Rude fainted. At least he had a valid excuse not to say what he knows about Yuffie.

* * *

"Aaaah, Midgar again." Lord Godo said, feeling so pleased upon breathing in fresh unpolluted air in Sector One once he got down from the chopper.  
"Is this... Midgar?" Yuffie asked in awe, looking up at the skies. They weren't being blocked by smog anymore.  
"Yes, my dear. This is Midgar. President Rufus has done a great job during his first few months of Presidency, don't you think?" Lord Godo asked.  
"Indeed," Zack said.  
Lord Godo passed to him the many luggage that he and his daughter had brought along with them for a 2-week stay in Midgar. "Here you go, sonny. Take that to our rooms." he said before proceeding back to the chopper. Yuffie was stunned. "Where are you going, daddy?" she asked.  
"I have to talk to the President regarding Urban Development in our country." Lord Godo told her.  
Yuffie waited until the chopper took off into the skies, off to the ShinRa Tower. Yuffie snatched some of the heavy luggage from Zack. "Nyuk nyuk. Heavy, huh?" she teased, seeing the agonizing look on his face because of too much weight.  
"Hell yeah! It's so unfair!!!" he wailed.  
Yuffie snapped at the bellboy, "Hey man! A little help here, please?" she asked.  
The bellboy placed their luggage on a cart and went inside ahead of them. Yuffie nudged Zack to come along with her already inside the Sector 1 hotel.  
Zack took a good look around the lobby. "Wow... I don't remember the lobby being this pretty. I guess I was too busy carrying luggage the last time..."  
"Oh, you silly...." Yuffie said, playfully punching his arm. She trailed off when she saw two women going towards her. "Oh. My. Gawd."  
"YUFFIE!!!" Tifa and Aerith waved at her enthusiastically.  
Zack covered his ears. He knew what was coming next.... "EEEEEE!!! TIFA! AERITH! HI!!!" Yuffie ran towards them and hugged the two of them at the same time.  
"Yuffie! How have you been?" Tifa asked, hugging her back.  
"Yuffie! We missed you! Any new stuff?!" Aerith asked, also hugging her back.  
Yuffie let them go and smiled happily. She commenced the story-telling, in her usual hyper manner: "Oh, you know, Wutai's the same as it's ever been, and Daddy's fine... The weather's nice, oh, and you know, I'm a better ninja than ever since I'm training all the time and bla bla bla bla...." Tifa and Aerith listened to her intently, occasionally throwing comments here and there. Zack was just amazed since the girls understood her hyperactive story-telling... whereas he didn't understand a word of it.  
They were in a line for the reception. Zack, in a confused daze, moved with Yuffie, Tifa and Aerith in the line as they shared their anecdotes, gossip, current events, opinions, predictions, dream interpretations and so on... When it was their turn to register, the receptionist cleared her throat. Yuffie didn't notice her at first, but the receptionist cleared her throat again. Zack tapped Yuffie's shoulder. "Oh... right. Sorry," she said meekly. "Could I have the keys to our room?" she asked, getting her ID's and things.  
"Your name, please?" the receptionist asked patiently.  
"Yuffie..." she rummaged through the stuff in her shoulderbag. "Kisaragi..." she got her wallet. "Oh. Right. Yuffie Kisaragi-Knightblade." the receptionist said with a pleased smile on her face, cutting Yuffie.  
Tifa and Aerith gasped.  
"All right," the receptionist said, typing a few things into the computer. She then got a key-card from somewhere. "Here you go. Room 709," she said, handing her the keycard.  
Before Yuffie or Zack could say "Thank You!", Tifa and Aerith were already shaking Yuffie. "YUFFIE?! You didn't mention _him!_" Tifa said, pointing at Zack. He frowned as a reaction.  
"Well... I thought it was kinda obvious?!" Yuffie said, blushing.  
Zack just smiled sheepishly but somewhat proudly at Tifa and Aerith. "Heh heh," he laughed weakly. "It was... sudden. Just a private ceremony in Wutai a month ago..." he explained.  
"But... WHY?!" Tifa asked, still in shock.  
"Hey, I know I'm young and I'm only 20 but... daddy got so excited especially at the thought of having grandchildren..." Yuffie pointed out with a silly smile on her face.  
"You sound regretful," Aerith pointed out with a disappointed look on her face.  
"Nope." Yuffie and Zack both said in unison with proud looks on their faces.  
"Well, glad to know that you two are finally together," Tifa said with a sweet smile on her face, offering a handshake with Zack. He eagerly shook hands with her, then turned to Aerith who was smiling proudly at them. "I'm so happy for you two," she told him.  
"Thanks. Heh heh..." Zack said, smiling sheepishly.  
Tifa glanced at her watch and scratched her head. "Oh dear... I have to go. Are you going to attend the party tonight?" she asked.  
"Why do you think we're here in the first place?" Yuffie asked with a wink. "And your _real_ engagement to Rufus? I wouldn't miss it for the world!" she added. Tifa blushed slightly. "Eh... thanks. heheh." she laughed weakly, feeling embarrassed because passersby were already looking at her curiously. She has been all over the news lately... and she's not really used to all the glitz and glamour. And least of all, the paparazzi...  
_Click. Click.  
_"Not again...!!" thought Tifa in exasperation. "Well, then Aerith, I think we'd better leave right now." she said, taking Aerith's hand and waving goodbye to Yuffie and Zack. "We'll see you tonight," Aerith told the two.  
"Byeeee!!!" Yuffie said happily, waving goodbye. She and Zack watched as Tifa and Aerith exited the hotel.  
Zack turned to Yuffie. "Well... we have three more hours to kill before the party..." he told her.  
"Yeah." was all she said with a blank stare. She giggled, "Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk!"  
He raised an eyebrow at her. "?"  
She nudged him with an elbow which made him react in pain. "Ow!"  
"Race you upstairs to our room!" she cheered before dashing off.  
"Argh! So unfair!!!" he wailed before going after her.

* * *

End!

_**Note from Zhak**_: WOW! We finished this! Hurrah hurrah.... (Although I don't understand how Milkshake could be related with this fic. Oh well.) Hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it. (If we _did_ enjoy it... j/k) Thanks for those who had faithfully read this up until this chapter. And... er... review.... please? We'd muchly appreciate it.

Oh, and if after this you're a die-hard Yuffie/Zack fan already... well, I personally couldn't be prouder. XD Although it would seem a bit strange. Nyuk nyuk nyuk...


End file.
